Raised a Criminal
by DiscipleOfAnime
Summary: Naruto is kidnapped the night of the Kyuubi attack, but the Kyuubi is not sealed in him, but in his twin sister. Both Minato and Kushina are alive and Kakuzu gets ahold of the newborn Naruto and trains him. Ch. 38 Brawl in the Desert
1. Mistaken Identity

Chapter 1: Mistaken Identity

I now have a very reliable Beta Reader, thank you too 'argentorum' for taking time so thank you for taking the time for editing my story! Edited on: January 5, 2012

* * *

* Konohagakure *

Two ninjas were currently running along a battle torn land, making a hasty escape after they accomplished their mission in Konoha. If all went well this would be a big score for both of them. Both ninjas had on a headbands that had three diagonal lines as a symbol for their ninja village, Yugakure. The two men wore slim burgundy flak jackets, white pants, and carried retractable weapons on their hips.

One of the men, who had messy brown hair, a distinctive scar running diagonally across his face over his nose and had his headband wrapped around his forehead shouted, "Make sure you don't lose the package! Our village will be wiped out if we fail!" The second man was bald with his headband tied around his neck, " I know dammit! Just worry about running for our lives and getting away from those leaf ninjas!"

The two men kept running relentlessly, trying to put as much distance between them and Konoha as possible. After a bit the brown haired man slowed down till he was directly behind his teammate, opening up a pack he had on his back. He looked inside to make sure their package was intact, "I can't believe we are getting paid this much money to capture this. What do think Ryu?"

The bald man named Ryu answered his teammate, "All I know is that the Tsuchikage better pay up. It's only natural that the Tsuchikage would want this kid. How much longer until we reach the checkpoint, Wadomaru?"

Wadomaru zipped the pack back up and told Ryu, "We're suppose to meet a contact that will tell us where the Iwa nins will be and then there will be a trade off. The town is called Moulin and we need to get there by tomorrow morning, so let's book it and get paid." Ryu agreed and they ran off faster than they were going before.

* * *

* The Next Day: Moulin Town *

It was about eight o'clock in the morning when they first caught sight of the town and they hadn't even rested once since they left Konoha. They looked for the contact at a casino called Royal Castle. The two were exhausted from their flight but they henge into two travelers and made their way into the casino. Once inside they desperately looked around for their contact. Ryu leaned to his partner asking him, "What does the contact look like?"

Wadomaru answered, "He's from Takigakure, or rather he was. Apparently he is a mercenary taking any job that a ninja village wouldn't." Ryu said, "So we are looking for a waterfall headband… Found him." Ryu pointed to a man sitting in the corner counting some chips on a table that was next to him. They took notice that his face was covered in a mask and a slash going through his headband. The most visible trait he had was his tan skin with stitchings covering his body like he was sewn together at the joints and turquoise eyes with red where the white should be. The two men walked close to him and Wadomaru said, "May the glory of Iwa stand tall."

The Taki ninja looked up at the two men and said, "Follow me." The masked man stood up and the two disguised men follow him into the back room. They walked through all the workers that were in the back as security in case something went wrong in the casino. The three men entered into a secret room and began conducting business. The two Yugakure ninjas dropped their disguises. Ryu took his pack off and gently placed it on the table telling the Taki ninja, "Alright here is the package. Now where is the money mister- ?"

The rouge ninja told the two, "Kakuzu." He quickly snatched the pack off the table and unzipped it looking into it seeing something he wouldn't have guessed was the package. "This is the package?"

Wadomaru answered, "It is. The Tsuchikage told us everything we needed about what we were to obtained. I'm just glad that the village was already under attack by the Kyuubi, we had used the distraction of the attack to sneak into the village and get it." Kakuzu reached his hand into the pack and pulled out a blanket that was wrapping something else up. He moved the blankets aside and saw the face of a baby, a blonde haired baby that was sleeping peacefully.

Ryu slammed his hand on the table shouting, "You got the kid now give us the money!" Kakuzu wrapped the baby back up in the blanket and placed him back into the pack gently. He placed the pack off to the side and told the two, "The Tsuchikage told me that should you complete your mission, I am to give you your reward." Kakuzu reached under the table and pulled out a metal case and placed it on the table. He opened the case and said, "Here is your reward, 50 million ryo."

Wadomaru reached ahead to make sure it was the right amount, but Kakuzu slammed the case shut on the man's fingers making him wince in pain. Before Ryu could react, Kakuzu leapt over the table and punched him in the face making the man's head knock against the wall knocking him out. The nuke nin grabbed Wadomaru by the back of his neck and slammed his head into the table.

Wadomaru shouted, "What the fuck is wrong with you!" The man simply answered, "The Tsuchikage won't care if the kidnappers he hired were killed by, let's say, Konoha's ANBU unit. As long as he got his package he shouldn't mind." The man widened his eyes in horror and Kakuzu pulled his head off the table only to snap his neck quickly. He snatched the retractable weapon from the dead man and drove it into Ryu's skull keeping the man pinned to the wall.

Kakuzu wiped the blood off of his hands using a piece of cloth from one of the dead ninjas. He picked up the money that spilled out of the case. After he picked up the money he heard a crying sound. He looked around the table and saw that the pack was moving and he knew the baby was awake now, no doubt from all the noise he made when he killed the men. Kakuzu grabbed the pack and opened it up. He needed to shut the kid up if he was to go; as it wouldn't do good if a Konoha ANBU ninja heard the crying and decided to check it out. Looking inside he saw the baby crying his eyes out. He picked the kid up as if it were a foreign object and held the baby with his arms outstretched, not sure what to do next.

All his years as a ninja didn't prepare him to take care of a baby. He had to move. If the baby continued to cry surely someone would hear it and wanted to see what happened. And would see the bodies. He placed the baby back into the pack despite the constant crying and grabbing the metal case full of money. He did a few handsigns and slammed his hand on the ground making a small hole just large enough for him to go through.

He crawled through the tunnel and appeared out of the ground in a store that didn't seem to have anyone in it. Before anyone found him he looked around for something that he could use to shut the baby up and found a bottle of milk. Taking it quickly, he left the store without anyone noticing him.

* Twenty Minutes Later *

Kakuzu was far outside the town of Moulin and took refuge in a cave. He had ripped a large cloth off of a traveler on the way there without them noticing and poured some of the milk onto it, soaking it completely. He placed the cloth in the baby's mouth letting the baby suck out the milk from the cloth, when the baby opened his eyes Kakuzu saw cerulean blue eyes that reminded him of someone, but couldn't think of who. He got curious and unraveled the baby and looked inside his diaper and said, "So you're a boy." The little baby boy stopped sucking winced, making a strange face.

Not knowing what to except what he saw and heard about over the years he sat the baby up on his knee and began to pat his back until the baby made a burping noise. Then he wrapped him back up and said, "Listen kid I'm only taking care of you until I get you to the Tsuchikage, don't take this the wrong way, I can't have you dying on me." He placed the baby back into his pack and picked up the money case as he set off to began his journey to Iwagakure. The only bad thing was that the Tsuchikage had set up his meeting with the kidnappers in a town that was far east of Fire Country, which meant he had to travel across the Land of Fire and across Takigakure territory to Iwagakure to collect his reward.

He felt the baby move in the pack and tried his best to ignore it; up until he began to cry…

* * *

* A Day after the Kyuubi attack: Nightfall: Konoha *

In Konoha, at the base of the mountain stood a tower belonging to the village's leader, a man called the 'Hokage'. The village beyond it was in desperate need of repairs after a giant fox called the Kyuubi attacked causing massive earthquakes that destroyed a good deal of the village. Currently residing in the tower was a young man with spiky blonde hair. His hands buried in his face as he sat at a desk in the top floor of the tower. He wore standard jounin attire, a green combat vest jacket and a blue long sleeve ninja shirt with blue ninja pants. He was also wearing a white cloak that went over his attire with red flames along the bottom. This man looked to have seen better days and his eyes showed that he had been doing a lot of crying.

The door to his office swung open revealing a young boy wearing a porcelain animal mask, standard uniforms consisting of black and gray armor, metal arm guards, and a signature spiral tattoo on his left shoulder. Though the animal mask of a dog covered his one could still see his distinct gray hair that was defying gravity as it pointed from the left side of his head.

The man politely bowed in front of the Hokage's desk saying, "Still no sign of him Hokage-sama. We don't even know where to start off. Most of the land and the village itself is greatly damaged and it's near impossible to find out what direction the kidnappers might have gone." The man didn't even respond and seemed to be a statue. The boy moved a little closer saying, "Sensei?"

The Hokage took his hands away from his face revealing cerulean blue eyes, tear marks making their way down his cheek. He looked at the body asking, "Kakashi… Your sure you didn't find anything?" The young ninja named Kakashi shook his head, "No sensei, nothing at all. All the available ANBU tracked looking for your son, but are coming up empty handed."

Young kage leaned back in his chair and said, "Kushina is tearing herself up about this and no matter what I do she seems to get worse." Kakashi didn't know what to say. After everything that's happened he was at a loss for words. Minato said again, "Nothing went how it was suppose to. Arashi wanted siblings and he finally got not one, but two. He was even happier then both Kushina and me when he found out that Kushina was having twins."

Kakashi took his mask off, showing his headband that had a leaf on it that headband was slanted to cover his left eye. He placed his mask on the desk saying, "With all due respect nothing always goes as planned, not even for a kage. We are ninjas after all and nothing is set in stone for us." Before the Hokage could respond his door opened up and walking through it was a tall man with long spiky white hair, clad a long red vest, a green gi, a net shirt underneath that, red sandals, and a large scroll on his back.

When the man saw who it was he stood up asking, "Jiraiya-sensei! Did you find out anything!" The older man named Jiraiya shook his head, "Sorry Minato I didn't, but I've only been to a few villages outlying Konoha a good distance away and found nothing. Whoever kidnapped your son may have gone off farther to avoid being seen, but to what village or town is unknown. Sorry I couldn't find anything."

The Hokage named Minato fell back into his chair, cursing under his breath. Jiraiya looked at Kakashi and then to his student walking over to him telling him, "Minato listen, I don't want to say this, but if your kid was kidnapped by one of your enemies, well then his chance of survival is zero." Minato looked up at his sensei and couldn't believe what he just said. Jiraiya saw his eyes and continued, "Minato you have to live in the reality of the world. Even if it wasn't one of your enemies and just a random kidnapper, then that doesn't make it any better."

Kakashi walked up to his sensei as well, "He's right sensei. As much as the village would like to see the brighter side that we will find Naruto, they need to understand that that's not how the world works." Minato refused to believe any of what they were saying, but before he could say anything Jiraiya told him, "Listen Minato, you have a beautiful wife that needs you, your older boy Arashi needs you, and your daughter Haru will need you the most. She has the Kyuubi sealed inside of her and she will need you to guide her and teach her how to control her power."

Jiraiya's words sunk in a little and watched as he leaned back into his seat. Jiraiya ran his hand through his spiky hair saying, "I suggest you let me take over as temporary kage until you can get a handle on everything. Go home and rest… your family needs you." Minato stood up silently and walked out of the room, leaving the two ninjas in his office.

* Hokage Mansion *

Minato walked to the most secure place in the village, the Hokage's mansion. It was a two story home with a large front and back yard and a very big training ground. He stopped in front of the huge gate and lazily opened the door, walking across the path to his home. Looking ahead he saw a lot of toads large, small, and some giant ones taller than himself. Each toad was croaking a sad melody and their stone eyes watched him walk into his home, he dragged his feet across the ground and up the stairs slowly. After he got up the stairs he stopped in front of a door with two names hanging on the door that read 'Haru & Naruto's Room'.

He opened the door up and saw half the room was painted blue and the other half was painted pink. The room had two cribs, two chairs, and one changing table that was on the farthest wall. Minato noticed that both cribs were empty and he left the room closing the door behind him. He walked down the hall quietly stopping outside the master bedroom.

He moved to open the door, but it opened by itself revealing a blonde haired woman who looked to be in her thirties with fair skin, brown eyes, and a small violet diamond shaped object on her forehead. Except for her bangs, which are parted in the middle and fall down the sides of her face, she has long blonde hair that was tied into two ponytails using bands in the same color as the seal on her forehead. She was wearing a grass-green robe with the kanji for _gamble_ written in black on the back, inside a red circle. Underneath she wore khaki, kimono-style blouse with no sleeves, held closed by a broad, dark bluish-grey obi that matches her trousers. Her blouse was cut quite low, revealing her sizable cleavage. And on her feat she wore open-toed sandals with low heels and nail polish in the same color as her trousers and obi on both her nails.

The woman looked saddened and said, "She needs you right now gaki." Minato nodded and said, "Thank you Tsunade-oba, I'll take it from here." The woman Tsunade moved to the side letting him through and she closed the door behind him. Minato walked into his dark room with the only light coming from the moon's rays outside his window. He looked at his kingsized bed and saw his wife sitting up on the bed. Their oldest son had his head on her lap and she had her baby girl in her arms rocking her back and forth humming a soothing melody with a few sobs coming out of her mouth every now and then.

Minato walked over to the bed, letting his cloak he had on fall to the floor. He sat on the bed and faced his wife, reaching out to move a few strands of her long red hair from her face and looking into her dark violet eyes. She looked up and saw Minato with a concerned look on his face. He asked his wife, "How are you?"

His wife simply said, "I want my son… I want my Naruto… Where is he?" Minato let his hand fall and he replied, "Kushina you need to rest." Kushina shook her head and said, "I don't need rest I need my son… Where is he?"

Minato winced as she asked that and had no choice, "Kushina-chan, they couldn't find any trace of where the kidnappers could've gone. With the Kyuubi attack every shred of potential evidence might have been wiped away." He looked at the tiny baby in her arms and noted her appearance. The small baby girl had blonde hair and three whisker birthmarks on each cheek, he pulled the blanket off of her looking at the seal on her belly.

His wife held the baby closer to her chest letting a few tears slide down her cheek. Minato got up and sat right next to her, pulling her into a hug, rubbing her head to try and soothe her. Arashi woke up at that point and sat up looking at his parents, he saw how sad they were asking his dad, "Dad? Did they find Naruto yet?" Minato looked at his son and pulled him into the hug as well, "No my son they didn't find him yet… I don't think they will either…"

Arashi hugged his dad back and he could hear a sobbing sound coming from his father, but couldn't look up. He said to his parents, "Mom, Dad… When I get older I'm gonna find Naruto, I promise I will." Minato smiled and he rubbed the top of his son's hair telling him, "Even if they don't find him, we shouldn't give up hope that he's out there somewhere; and if you say you'll find him, then you'll find him."

Kushina heard what her oldest son said and felt more relieved by his words. She tried to hum the melody she was doing before to keep her baby Haru asleep. They all laid back down believing that their baby Naruto was still alive somewhere.

* * *

* Three Days Later: Land of Earth *

Kakuzu was in no hurry to get to Iwagakure as he was sure the Tsuchikage wouldn't be happy to see him after a unfortunate incident years ago. He stopped at a small restaurant for travelers and he took a seat. Ordering his food, he took the baby out of the pack and pulled out bottle filled with milk he got awhile back. If he wanted the reward for this mission then he needed to make sure the baby was well taken care of until he got to Iwagakure. One of the waitresses came over giving him a bowl of curry he ordered and saw the small baby in his arms commenting on how cute the baby was, "Oh he's soooooo cute! What's the little one's name?"

He stopped feeding the baby for a moment and handed the baby to her asking, "Hold him for a moment." The girl was confused but took the baby and watched as he turned his back to her and began to eat. She sat down and unraveled the baby from his blanket and inspected him finding a band on his little ankle. She said out loud, "So your name is Naruto Namikaze is it? That's a cute name."

At that moment Kakuzu froze and put his bowl down and turned to the woman taking the baby, he quickly pulled out some money and slammed it on the table before taking his leave. He was in such a hurry that he left his pack and a few other things back at the restaurant. He began to run, all the while thinking, 'That fucking idiot! He had those two ninjas kidnap the Yondaime Hokage's son! How did I not see it, the blonde hair, the blue eyes, and now that fucking name!' Kakuzu picked up the pace running even more quickly. He glanced down at the baby and saw that his eyes were open and staring right at him still giggling.

He said to the baby, "Don't give me that look! I have to get you to Iwa now!" Naruto began to giggle and held his arms out to Kakuzu, but the ninja tried to ignore him and kept running, wanting to get this over with now.

* Iwagakure *

The rocky mountain ranges that surround the village and country make it a natural stronghold. The village profits from this advantageous position and is proud of its strong defenses. The village itself sits among a mountain range consisting of small narrow waterfalls, made of buildings composed of rock and stone, shaped from large, elevated formations of rock into tower-like structures. Many of its buildings sit on cliffs and are connected by a network of bridges. The Tsuchikage's palace seems to be the tallest structure with a cone shaped roof.

Though for Kakuzu that made it more difficult as getting through these mountains was no cake walk. He reached up and took off the metal plate of his headband and buried it, reaching into his ninja pouch he took out a scroll that had the Iwa symbol on it, two rocks with the smaller rock in front of the bigger rock. Setting his other weapons on the ground where his headband plate was he kept the baby cradled in his arm and slowly walked to the entrance of the village.

When he got close to the gate he found himself surrounded by ten Iwa ninjas. One of the Iwa nins asked, "What business do you have here stranger?" Kakuzu used had Naruto cradled in his right arm and used his left hand to hold out the scroll to the ninja. The man carefully took hold of the scroll. Unraveling it, he read its contents and then closed it up. He told Kakuzu, "This way."

Kakuzu followed the man across a bridge to the Tsuchikage's tower. They entered the tower and came to a stop at what he assumed was the Tsuchikage's door, the Iwa nin knocked on the door and heard a deep voice say, "Come in, come in." The ninja pushed the doors aside and walked in with Kakuzu following behind him. Kakuzu noticed two other men in the room that took their leave when his group entered. He saw that both had strong chakra signatures and noted each of them.

The first was a older man wearing a large headpiece consisting of a three pointed crown-like ridge, bearing both his Iwagakure forehead protector and ring, along with a prominent black piece of armor running across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. Despite his advanced age, his hair was a solid red color.

The second was a very tall man that was heavily armored with a furnace on the back that emitted what looks to be steam. His armor extends all the way to the bottom half of his face, covering it completely. Aside from his red armor, he also wears a red kasa (conical straw hat) that seemed to be composed of metal. Over his armor he wore a black gi with the sleeves torn off.

Kakuzu looked at the desk and saw a very short man as small as a child. His facial features included a triangular beard and a mustache with angular corners. He had a big red nose and thick eyebrows. The top of his head was completely bald, although he had some white hair at the back and sides of his head, the back of which is tied with a yellow ribbon into a ponytail.

The old man told the three Iwa nins in the room, "You may take your leave." All three men nodded and walked out. However the Tsuchikage told the two other ninjas, "Roshi, Han." Both men stopped at the door and looked at the Tsuchikage.

The old kage told them, "Remember who you serve." Both men nodded and left the room closing the door behind them. Kakuzu saw out of the corner of his eye an Iwa ANBU ninja came out of the wall using a jutsu the Iwa nins are famous for. Kakuzu handed the kid over to the ANBU and he took the baby who began to cry the moment he left Kakuzu's arms, over to the Tsuchikage.

The ANBU ninja placed the baby on the kage's desk and moved away as the Tsuchikage investigated the baby, checking him over twice to be sure and then even a third time. After he was done he sighed saying to Kakuzu, "Tell me that you have a powerful genjutsu over this baby and that you can dispel it right now." Kakuzu didn't understand asking, "What the hell are you talking about?" The Tsuchikage grabbed the baby by the blanket he was wrapped up in and tossed him at Kakuzu.

Kakuzu reacted by instinct and grabbed the baby. Despite being thrown the baby stopped crying and started to smile when he was with Kakuzu. The Tsuchikage said in a low tone, "I paid fifty million ryo to have the baby of the Yondaime Hokage brought to me, the baby that has the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed in it. Do you know how difficult it was to get information like that? Do you know how much careful planning it took to make sure that the package containing the Kyuubi would be delivered to me? That's what I wanted and yet this baby has neither the seal on his body nor any characteristics that he has the beast in him."

Kakuzu made his voice low as well arguing back, "My job was to bring the baby to you, it was those two incompetent ninjas you hired who failed you. Don't make this like I failed the mission Onoki." The Tsuchikage Onoki shook his head telling Kakuzu, "I cannot let this go unpunished. I will kill you and the baby of that bastard as well. I can't have you going around letting rumors spread that I authorized the mission to kidnap the Yondaime's baby. That would turn out very, very bad for me."

Onoki held his hand up to his ANBU saying, "Kill him." The ANBU ninja hoped into action quickly, charging at Kakuzu. The nuke-nin however wasn't intimidated and opened up a wound in his arm pulling out an explosive tag. The next thing the village heard was a loud explosion that came from their kage's tower.

Kakuzu jumped out of the building at blinding speed and kept running, going faster than he'd ever run before, still carrying the baby. He was lucky he avoided any ninjas and ran to where he left his weapons. He found the spot where he left everything and jetted off once he got what he needed. He had to get out of Iwa now. The back of his shirt began to move around and thread like wings ripped through the back of the that he used to fly at amazing speeds, putting as much distance between him and Iwa as possible.

* * *

* Two Hours Later: Takigakure *

Kakuzu made it back to Taki territory without stopping and took a moment to rest after his ordeal with the Tsuchikage. He set Naruto down on the ground, still wrapped in his blanket, as he said to himself, "I'm screwed… The Tsuchikage is after me, my village wants me dead, I have the son of the Yondaime Hokage with me… Fuck… I can't keep this kid with me." He looked around and made a kind of small boat out of twigs and some of his threads coming from his body. He placed the boat next to a stream with the baby on it.

He lifted up the boat and baby and held it in the stream ready to send the baby off. Little Naruto opened his eyes and looked into Kakuzu's eyes almost as if pleading him not to do it. Kakuzu began to have a struggle within himself saying, "If they connect me with your kidnapping then Konoha will be after me quick… but what if they catch me without you?" After he thought over a few different scenarios he grabbed Naruto and said, "You're a nuisance, but I could use you."

He got up and walked away. He looked at the baby cradled in his arm and watched in amusement as the baby kept giggling and smiling, Kakuzu kept walking through a forest saying, "The moment you start to walk little Naruto your gonna begin your training. And whether you like it or not and it will not be a cake walk." Kakuzu moved through the forest, taking on a student he intends to protect himself.


	2. Eight Years

Chapter Two: Eight Years

**THERE IS A POLL SET UP ON MY PROFILE! WHEN YOU HAVE THE TIME PLEASE CHECK IT OUT! THANK YOU!**

Thank you 'argentorum' my BETA! You're very helpful!

Edited on: February 8, 2012

* * *

* Eight Years Later: Land of Tea *

The streets were paved in bright colors and everyone was out having fun for the festival. Kids played in the streets, wearing plastic ANBU masks. Countless carnival stalls were open with prizes of all shapes and sizes to entice people to come and play. Yes everyone was having fun at the festival, everyone except two people walking through the crowd, completely disinterested in the festival that was going on around them.

One was very short, 4'2'' the average height for a child his age, while the other was a tall man who stood at 6'0''. Both were wearing similar black cloaks with high collars and white hooded masks with black faceguards that obscured everything but their eyes. The child's eyes were a cerulean blue, but the man had odd turquoise pupils and red sclera.

The taller man told his younger companion, "Naruto you remember what your suppose to do right?"

The boy named Naruto nodded in response looking at the taller man, "Don't worry tou-san I remember." Naruto stopped and waited as his dad continued walking forward. (You all know it's Kakuzu right?)

Kakuzu walked down an alleyway to a door that lead to a brothel. Once inside he saw that this place was more of an underground cave than a building, unlike the ones famous in other countries. He was greeted by a woman wearing a brown kimono that showed off her cleavage, obviously standing there to warm up new customers. "Hello there master. What can I interest you in?" She asked breathily. But Kakuzu couldn't care less about her attempts to seduce him.

Kakuzu asked the woman, "Has an overweight man come in here? He's a friend of mine and I have important business to conclude with him."

The woman sighed that he wasn't there for a good time, but showed him through a few hallways. Kakuzu could here pants, moans, and screams coming from many of the closed doors, but ignored them completely, he'd heard worse. Soon they reached room '21'. She held her hand to the door saying, "He's in here." Kakuzu immediately looked at her and widened his eyes. She inhaled once sharply before passing out under his genjutsu. He caught her and placed her sitting up on the wall. He turned his attention back to the door. He could hear a few screams coming from in the room, but he kicked down the door anyway, knocking the door off of its hinges.

The occupants of the room froze when the door flew past. The man got off from on top of the woman he paid and tried to get dressed, cursing and screaming at Kakuzu all the while. Kakuzu ignored all his rants and screams, and continuing to watch impassively. Finally the man was able to get a shirt and his pants on asking, "Who the fuck are you!"

Kakuzu moved a few steps toward him as he said, "Kaijiro Yamura, your company sees you as a bother and dead weight, so they hired me to kill you. Think of me as your hit man." Kaijiro immediately grabbed the prostitute and tossed her at him. Kakuzu didn't care and kicked the woman, knocking her into the wall, unconscious.

Kaijiro was already running from the room, thinking he got a good head start from his hit man. But that's what Kakuzu allowed. Kakuzu left the room and began walking, following leisurely behind the man. Kaijiro busted through a door leading into the building, knocking a kid over as he ran into the alleyway. He took off down the alley, running through so many different twists and turns that he lost track of where he was. He started hitting a few dead ends, forcing him to backtrack. But soon the dead ends became more frequent. He kept running frantically from dead end to dead end until he turned one corner and came to a stop facing a wall. He turned around to back track only to find that the way he came through was gone and he was trapped. He began to pound on the walls and search for a way out, but to no success. Atop the roofs sat Naruto watching the man panic in a crowded street.

Kakuzu appeared next to Naruto saying, "You've improved in your genjutsu at least. Though I suggest you don't use 'em when fighting against a real ninja." Naruto agreed and was amazed that he casted such an easy genjutsu on a man like him. An academy student would be able to sense this type of genjutsu.

Naruto replied, "You should catch him now dad before the samurai in the area try and arrest him tou-san."

Kakuzu watched a little while longer as the man continued to run into people, knocking a few of them over, thinking he was trapped. Six samurais soon came over to check out the commotion and saw a fat man going crazy in the middle of this happy festival. The leader of the samurai squad shouted, "Cease and desist! You are under arrest!"

Naruto dropped the genjutsu at that moment and Kaijiro looked around and saw he was surrounded by samurais and a few onlookers. He didn't understand what was going on. He froze however when he heard a voice behind him, "Got you…" He turned around and saw Kakuzu who snatched him up quick. The samurais saw a man appear behind the one they were arresting, but before they could act both men disappeared. The samurais started to search the area for the two people they thought they had cornered.

* A few miles away from the festival *

Kakuzu tossed the unconscious fat man into a tree as Naruto landed next to him, a bit slower than his father but still able to keep up. Kakuzu opened his cloak taking out a meat cleaver and he handed it over to Naruto saying, "We need his head. We are to take it back to the client as proof." Naruto took the cleaver without arguing in the least. In one swift move he sliced the man's head clean off. Naruto opened his cloak and pulled out a small sack that he placed the head in. He moved away from the now headless corpse and watched as Kakuzu rolled out a scroll and unsealing its contents. Inside it were a number of various tools chemicals.

Naruto strapped the sack around his back and pulled out a scroll, handing it over to Kakuzu who unraveled it and placed it next to him. Disconnectedly, as if he was butchering a pig instead of a human being, Kakuzu cut the fat man open, removing a few organs to place them on the scroll. After he was done he grabbed a vile of acid and sprinkled it on the body.

Naruto immediately stepped back and watched as Kakuzu pulled out a match and lit i,t tossing it on the corpse. The body ignited immediately because of the acid. Naruto walked over to the organs sealed them inside the scroll. He quickly handed the scroll to Kakuzu asking, "After we deliver the head are we going to the black market?"

Kakuzu took the scroll and put it inside his cloak answering Naruto, "Yes we are. That way we have some pocket change. Now let's go, we don't want that head to start rotting now do we?" Naruto shook his head and followed after Kakuzu.

Kakuzu looked down at Naruto and was amazed at his progress thus far. Naruto had stopped showing emotion early on and was no almost impossible to catch off guard. He knows that Naruto is a motivated when it comes to impressing him. The kid doesn't show facial expressions to anyone but Kakuzu; and the only one he makes is a smile that he gives Kakuzu when he's praised. All in all Naruto was an ANBU in terms of emotions, but he still had a long way to go in his training. He took Naruto out and let him kill his first human to get him ready for what's ahead.

He had killed a man who's wife had hired them to kill so she could collect on his life insurance. Naruto took the man by surprise and had stabbed him through his throat. When Kakuzu told him he did a good job, Naruto smiled happily at Kakuzu's praise. Any other time however he just looks like he's unmotivated. But that was because he believes he only needed to impress and be active around Kakuzu, the man whom he's taken to calling father.

* * *

* Konohagakure *

Konoha remained a happy, peaceful village even after the Kyuubi attack eight years ago. When word spread around the village that the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sacrificed himself to seal the monster inside the Yondaime Hokage's daughter in order to protect their village some looked at Haru Namikaze as the savior of Konoha, while others saw her as demon. However the respect and awe the villagers felt for the Yondaime Hokage and his sealing abilities soon overrode that fear. A statue of the third kage when he was in his prime was made and set up in the center of Konoha's park, a place everyone visited to pay their respects to their old kage.

At the Academy, students were just being released out of their classes, running around with the excitement that comes with getting out of school. One little girl named Haru came out of the building. She had long blonde hair the color of beaten gold tied into a braid, whisker birthmarks on her cheeks, and cerulean blue eyes that look as pure and clear as a cloudless sky. She wore a blue shirt and long shorts that almost went past her knees . The little girl rushed out of the door and stopped, waiting for her friends to come out. She didn't wait long as three girls ran out of the Academy building heading straight for her.

One of the girls had shoulder length pink hair that was tied in a red ribbon and emerald green eyes. She was wearing a darker shade of blue for a shirt and light tan shorts. The second girl had platinum blonde hair that was shoulder length, blue eyes, two ring necklaces, a peach colored shirt, and black pants. Finally the third girl had dark blue hair in a hime-cut style, with chin-length strands framing her face. Her eyes were pupils, the irises nearly as white as the sclera, with a slight tinge of lavender. Unlike the other three girls she wore an expensive beige color kimono.

The three girls caught up with their blonde friend, following her away from the school grounds. The little pink haired girl asked her friends, "You guys wanna come over to my house?" First to respond was the platinum blonde haired girl, "Sorry Sakura, but my mother wants me to help around the shop a little more."

Haru nodded in reply, "Sorry I can't come over either. My brother is suppose to be returning from a mission today and I wanted to go see him."

The white eyed girl told Sakura, "I'll come over. Tou-san is away on a business trip with my uncle and they won't be back for some time."

"Thanks Hinata." Sakura said, smiling.

Ino sighed "Man.. Haru, Hinata, and Sasuke-kun all have siblings. It'd be nice if I had a little sister." she pouted.

Haru told Ino, "It's good I guess, but onii-san doesn't have time to hang out. When he is home and not on missions he's always training at the Hokage's training grounds."

Hinata nodded, adding, "Hanabi is still too young to really say anything yet. She's only three years old right now."

Sakura said, "Still, I agree with Ino, it would be nice to have a little brother or sister." The four continued walking, talking with each other for awhile before they split up to go their separate ways.

Haru started running to the Hokage tower to go see her dad. Hopefully her brother Arashi would be there as well. She made the final turn around the corner and she ran into someone. She fell back with a grunt and quickly looked up to apologize, "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going-" She stopped when she realized she ran into Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke had raven black hair that spiked out in the back, black eyes, a long sleeve blue shirt with a fan symbol on the back, and white pants. The youngest son of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, he was Itachi Uchiha's little brother. It was known around the village that Arashi Namikaze and Itachi Uchiha were rivals ever since they graduated from the Academy the same year, both of them being only seven years old. but Itachi came out as number one, something her brother didn't' bother to worry about. Both got promoted to Chunin at ten years old; the only difference between the two was Itachi accepted his promotion to ANBU captain at thirteen, where as her brother chose to become a Jounin instead. The two remained as close friends and rivals. Even after Itachi became ANBU he always sought out Arashi to have a battle with.

Itachi had dark grey eyes along with black hair that hung near his cheeks to frame his face. He wore his hair in a long ponytail because his hair had a softer flow to it, lacking the spiky style at the back. His skin was also slightly darker. Though, Itachi's most distinguishing characteristics were the long pronounced creases under his eyes. Currently he was wearing his casual clothes which were a black shirt, with the Uchiha symbol embroidered on the back, and black pants.

Sasuke picked himself up and shouted, "Watch where you're going!"

Haru stood up and stared him down shouting back, "Big talk for a shorty like you!" Anime style lighting shot out of their eyes connecting as the two continued to argue with one another. Sasuke stopped arguing when he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder.

He turned around and saw his older brother Itachi smiling at him saying, "Sasuke-kun that's no way to talk to a friend is it." Sasuke looked down and Itachi looked at Haru, "Sorry for my little brother. Where are you off to Haru-chan?"

Haru blushed a deep shade of red before answering him with a worse stutter than Hinata, "W-W-W-Well I-I'm g-g-going t-to my d-d-dad's office to s-s-s-see m-my brother."

Itachi chuckled at the little girl, knowing full well that the Hokage's daughter had a crush on him. "Mind if I join?" He asked Haru, "It's been awhile since I last saw Arashi." Haru was still fashioning a blush, but nodded quickly. Itachi looked at his little brother asking him, "Do you want to tag along too Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke looked at his brother nodding meekly. The three walked to the Hokage's tower with Haru and Itachi talking the whole time. When they reached the Hokage's secretaries desk Haru told her that she was there to see her father. Haru, Itachi, and Sasuke reached the Hokage's office and Haru opened the door without knocking, something her father was used to. She dashed inside and stopped as soon as she opened the door and saw her father at his desk wearing his cloak that she's almost always seen him in. Her eyes glanced to the only other in the room who had long wild spiky blonde hair with some of it kept in a low ponytail, he was wearing the traditional ninja vest and the blue ninja clothes.

Haru immediately ran to him shouting, "Arashi-oniichan! Your home!" She grabbed onto him hugging him tightly.

Minato laughed at the scene in front of him. Arashi kneeled down to look his sister in the eyes and said, "It's good to see you Haru-hime." Haru laughed every time he called her that. Arashi looked up and saw Itachi and Sasuke walk into the room. He greeted both, "Hello there Itachi-san, Sasuke-kun." Minato also greeted them all as well.

Itachi bowed to them saying, "Good evening, Arashi-san, Hokage-sama." Sasuke mimicked his brother, greeting both Minato and Arashi exactly the same way Itachi did.

"Haru sweetie do you mind taking Sasuke out into the lobby?" Minato asked his daughter. "Daddy has to talk with Arashi for a moment." Haru was about to pout, but Arashi said to her, "Don't worry aniki will be here when you get back."

Haru sadly agreed and walked out of the room. Itachi nudged Sasuke. prompting him to follow her. Like Haru Sasuke walked out dejectedly, wanting to hang out with his brother longer. Itachi closed the door after they left and walked over to his rival, standing next to him as Minato went over his son's mission report. He leaned back in his chair after reading his son's report and said, "Another lead that turned out to be a dead end."

Arashi looked down apologetically, "I thought that this would be the one to, but it turns out the last time anyone saw the kid was two years ago. It's possible that it was Naruto, but I just don't know. Sorry dad."

Minato immediately said to his son, "Don't apologize for this. If this child really was Naruto then there is a chance that he's still out there." They didn't mind talking about this in front of Itachi, since this kind of information was common. Naruto's kidnapping was common knowledge to everyone in Konoha. There were rumors everywhere that some would see a spiky haired blonde boy whenever someone left the village for a vacation or something else. Itachi had pitched in and when he finished his missions early he would ask around looking for the Namikaze's missing child.

Minato put the paper work in his desk, "We're getting close though," He told his son "I feel it. For now, though, go home and get some rest. Tell your mother I'll be home later and that I don't have to work late tonight."

Itachi and Arashi both bowed politely to the Hokage as they left his office. Itachi walked beside his rival before he asked, "Eight years huh?"

Arashi nodded, "Yeah… Eight years since my baby brother was kidnapped from Konoha's hospital." He replied, "My mother blames herself because she said she left the room he was in for a moment to go see if Haru was okay and the nurses said they watch him." Arashi stopped walking and Itachi stopped as well and looked at him as he continued, "When mom and dad got back to the room to see Naruto, the nurses had been killed and Naruto was nowhere to be seen. Mom keeps saying had she stayed in the room she would've been able to fight off whoever it was who took Naruto."

Itachi didn't really know what to do to really comfort someone, so the only thing he could say was, "Don't worry Arashi, you'll find him." Though Arashi didn't feel any better, he put on a brave face and went to fetch his sister so they could head home.

* Hokage Mansion *

Haru burst through the kage mansion heading straight for the kitchen followed by her brother. Haru reached the kitchen and saw her mother chopping up some vegetables for dinner, "Hi kaa-san!" said Haru excitedly. Kushina turned around and saw her daughter. Putting the knife down, she kneeled to give her daughter a hug.

"How was your classes today?" Kushina asked.

Haru gave her mother a great big smile telling her, "I did great! Our teacher is Iruka Umino is teaching us what to look for in the field to eat when we run out of supplies."

Kushina said, "That's great, I can't believe your already at the Academy. Before long you'll be a Konoha ninja just like your brother."

Haru blushed and smiled at her mother's remark. Arashi sat down at the kitchen table and decided to tease his little sister. "That's the second time you blushed today isn't it Haru-hime?"

Haru turned to look at her brother shouting, "Nuh uh!"

"So Itachi was lying when he saw you blush earlier?" Arashi asked. Kushina started to laugh that her daughter already had a crush and it was the future clan head of the Uchiha Clan.

Kushina told her daughter, "Haru-chan why don't you go upstairs and go wash up." Haru didn't' argue and darted off up to her room leaving Kushina and her oldest child.

Arashi knew what was coming. Every time he went on a mission that had to do with Naruto she just needed to know. Kushina sat down at the table next to her son, no longer carrying her smile , and asked him, "What did you find?".

Arashi tapped his fingers on the table while telling his mother, "Nothing. Turns out whoever that village saw who resembled Naruto was two years ago. There is a chance it was him, but there is another chance it is a kid who looks like Naruto." He hated to give his mother bad news, but it was better than getting her hopes to high up. Arashi got up to leave, but told his mom, "I'm gonna find him. I'm not gonna stop till I find him." He started to walk away saying one last thing, "Dad doesn't have to work late tonight and he said he'll be home when he can."

Kushina watched him leave. Over the years she holds the thought that Naruto is alive and well somewhere out there. That thought kept her from doing anything drastic and life risking. She got up from the table and continued making dinner for her family occasionally looking out of the kitchen window watching the sun set, "Naruto... Where are you my son?"

* Somewhere in Fire Country *

Naruto was sitting outside a big building in a town as he waited for Kakuzu to conclude his business with the men inside. He watched as people walked past him, some alone, some holding the hands of young children. For some reason the ones with the children seamed happier. Naruto didn't understand what could make someone so happy to hold their kids hand like that when they see them every day.

Kakuzu would buy him scrolls and books to have him read a lot as part of his training. He said it was so he would be smarter than most ninjas, and had even given Naruto ones on human emotions. Yet even after reading them he still didn't understand. He didn't get what love was, friendship, or many other emotions people express to one another. He only truly understood acceptance, like he accepted the fact he's a trained criminal, he's accepted that he's killed, but he likes when Kakuzu accepts him for who he is and expresses gratitude toward him.

That was all Naruto knew and that was all he cared to know.

Kakuzu was currently counting a case of money, payment for 'taking care' of Kajiro. The man's head was currently sitting on the center of the table for the clients to see. One of the men asked Kakuzu, "Thank you for your services, but might we ask you for a tiny favor?" Kakuzu finished counting the money in the case, closing it he looked at the man asking for a favor. "Is it too much trouble… Or could you please dispose of this thing?" He asked referring to the man's head.

Kakuzu headed for the door saying, "Yes, it is too much trouble." and left the room. As he exited the building he saw Naruto sitting right where he'd left him. Walking up behind Naruto he lightly tapped him with his foot. Naruto looked up and saw Kakuzu was ready to go. He stood up and followed him.

As they walked out of the village Kakuzu told Naruto, "When we get deeper into the mountains we will improve your taijutsu. You will attack me with the intent to kill or will not improve."

"Hai tou-san." Naruto replied.

* One Hour & Thirty Minutes Later *

Kakuzu held an unopened cup of ramen in one hand while he used the other to effortlessly block Naruto's kicks and punches. Naruto was giving it his all as he attacked Kakuzu, intent on claiming his prize. The deal was if Naruto could successfully land a hit on Kakuzu then he got to eat his favorite food, ramen. If he lost then he would have to go out into the forest to catch his food while Kakuzu ate the ramen.

Naruto tried to knee Kakuzu in the head, but the Nuke-nin grabbed his knee to block. While he was holding Naruto in the air Naruto tried to punch Kakuzu in the head, but Kakuzu easily tossed Naruto to the ground. Quick to recover Naruto pulled out a kunai and tried to slash Kakuzu. Naruto was ambidextrous, able to switch his kunai from hand to hand with little loss of skill. Kakuzu taught him this to better his weapon handling skills, tossed hot coals at his feet to teach him foot work, and kept him training at high altitudes for his stamina and endurance. Naruto was extremely resilient and never gave up so far. Something that Impressed Kakuzu so much that he could say he was proud of the young blonde.

The little ninja held the kunai in his right hand and tried to stab Kakuzu, but the masked ninja grabbed Naruto's wrist, stopping him. Immediately Naruto dropped the kunai and caught it with his left hand, slashing at Kakuzu again. Kakuzu was quicker, releasing him, and Naruto missed Kakuzu's arm. Letting out a hiss of annoyance, Naruto kept attacking, switching up his tactics.

He was suddenly stopped when Kakuzu held his hand; time was up. Kakuzu pointed to the forest saying, "You know what to do." Naruto nodded and headed into the forest to hunt for his dinner tonight. He watched the little eight year old head off into the forest kunai in hand.

Kakuzu sat down next to a tree where he set down his brief case full of money, starting a campfire so they would be ready to eat dinner later. He put the cup of ramen away for next time he trained Naruto. He always used the ramen trick Naruto's training ever since he treated Naruto to some a long time ago and learned of the boy's near addiction to the stuff. He leaned back and patiently waited for Naruto to return. About an hour later Naruto returned carrying two dead rabbits and a few berries he found in the woods. Naruto began to skin the rabbits carving a few sticks clean to spit the skinned rabbits on the for cooking.

Naruto placed them next to the fire and kept an eye on them so they didn't burn. After they were done he grabbed one of the rabbits and gave it to Kakuzu. After he gave Kakuzu his food Naruto grabbed his and the two removed the bottom half of their masks to start eating. Naruto asked Kakuzu, "So where to next tou-san?"

Kakuzu took a big bite out of his rabbit despite the threads on the sides of his mouth while answering him, "We're heading to the Land of Bears to a little ninja village called Hoshigakure. A man from that village named Akahoshi wants me to help him kill their Sandaime Hoshikage." Naruto was a little stunned that that Kakuzu wanted to accept a mission like that.

He voiced his concerns. "Though I think it wouldn't be a good idea to kill a kage, but I never heard of a Hoshikage." Kakuzu told him, "Truth is no one really has. The other five great countries do not see this village as a worthy to take the name kage nor become a great nation, but they still decided to call the village leader kage instead of chief. I don't know any ninja from that village that would even be worthy of the title kage. It's a joke really."

"So if this is an assassination mission from that village then wouldn't they realize who helped kill their leader as that would cast suspicion on them as well?" asked Naruto.

Kakuzu nodded saying to Naruto, "Your part in this mission is to set up exploding tags around the base of the kage's tower and bury him once I'm done. I'll give you the exploding tags and tell you were to place them exactly."

Naruto agreed and pulled out his canteen to take a drink of water, but Kakuzu took it and took a swig first drinking the whole content. He got up and told Naruto, "I'll get you some more so stay here." Naruto nodded and continued eating his cooked rabbit. Kakuzu found a stream and filled the canteen full of water. Once he filled it up he pulled a scroll out of his pack, unraveling it and unsealing its contents.

Popping out of the scroll was a clear gourd that had water inside of it. Next to the gourd was a hay straw. He put it inside the gourd. Pulling it out, he held it over Naruto's canteen and waited for a drop to fall into it. Once it did he quickly pulled the straw away and put it next to the gourd, sealing both inside the scroll once again. Kakuzu capped Naruto's canteen and shook it around a bit, thinking, 'Those idiots I stole this from use this to the point of them shorting their life so much they die two seconds later.' He walked back to the where Naruto was and tossed him his canteen.

Naruto grabbed the canteen and took a drink since he was really thirsty after his short skirmish with Kakuzu and the task of hunting rabbits. After both finished eating the rabbits and the berries Naruto laid his head down on his cloak and fell asleep. Kakuzu leaned up against the tree and fell asleep too, but kept himself well aware of his surroundings.

* Morning *

The two ninjas woke up early around five o'clock in the morning. Both of them put on their cloaks, Kakuzu grabbed his briefcase and they headed out to Bear Country for the assassination assignment. They walked on a main path for a good three hours, passing a farm along the way. Kakuzu noticed some straw laying around and he decided they should relax there for a moment and make some straw hats incase it rained along the way. Naruto didn't know how to make one, so he watched Kakuzu make his. Afterwards he quickly caught on and mimicked how he made his. After they finished making their straw hats, Kakuzu held out his hand and a thread came out looping inside the straw hat making a string so you could hang the hat around your neck, he did the same for Naruto's and soon they were off. Kakuzu let his hang around his neck while Naruto decided to put his hat on.

They continued through Fire Country at a kind of slow pace due to all the stops. Apparently there was a ninja going around coning travelers and ninjas around the area were just inspecting and talking to a few people. Thankfully Kakuzu and Naruto were able to avoid the ninjas, but they had to take the long ways around. Soon they found themselves the only ones on the current path. Kakuzu noticed ahead of them coming in their direction was a four man ninja squad from Konoha. One of the ninjas both Naruto and Kakuzu both recognized.

The one leading the group was wearing a jounin vest, but a tattered and torn brown vest rested on top of that one. He also wore a fishnet shirt under, black ninja pants, and black forearm guards. His appearance was somewhat intimidating, a few battle scars on his face, a small black beard, and black hair tied in a high spiky ponytail. If it was one thing Kakuzu taught Naruto it was to recognize ninjas from as many villages as possible and the reputations behind them. To give Naruto a better view of each ninja he knows and seen, he would transform into them and have the boy memorize them.

The four man team got closer and Kakuzu thought, 'Shikaku Nara, clan head of the Nara.' Kakuzu kept walking hoping to avoid confrontation with this man. Naruto was a bit nervous since Kakuzu had told him to avoid any and all Konoha ninja no matter what. Of course he never told him why, but Naruto didn't wish to ask. The gap between the two groups grew smaller and smaller until they passed each other, neither group saying anything to one another.

Kakuzu thought they were in the clear, but stopped when he heard. "Hold it right there…"

Both Naruto and Kakuzu stopped and turned around slowly they saw Shikaku was looking right at Kakuzu. Feeling uneasy Kakuzu started to unravel the threads in his arm just in case, Shikaku couldn't see this since his cloak was covering up his arm. Shikaku walked up to Kakuzu leaving a good arm distance between them, he asked Kakuzu, "Do you know anything about a con artist going around passing himself off as a healer? He's been coning travelers and we've been getting a lot of reports along this area."

Kakuzu didn't stop unraveling the threads in his arm slowly answering, "No I'm afraid I haven't. My son and I are just passing through, trying to get home after a long vacation. My wife is expecting the both of us home soon."

Shikaku looked at Kakuzu's mask and saw stitched in the forehead part of the hood was the metal plate for the headband with the Takigakure symbol in it. He decided to comment on the fact that he had a slash going through his headband, "Usually that slash marking means for nuke-nins that they defected from their village."

Naruto moved next to Kakuzu and started pulling on his arm cloak. Kakuzu didn't look at Naruto but easily came up with something, "I received the mark in a fight with a Kumo ninja, now if you don't mind you're making my son nervous and I would like to leave. If I was a nuke-nin I wouldn't be traveling with my son. That would put him in danger, so if you'll excuse me I need to get my son home."

Shikaku kept his eyes glued on the man, "Sorry for keeping you." Shikaku turned around and his team joined him, walking off quickly.

Kakuzu told Naruto, "Let's go." Naruto didn't let go of Kakuzu's sleeve and followed him.

* Konoha *

Minato was taking a stroll through the village with his wife Kushina on his arm. They usually took walks like this together in the mornings just so they could get out. Haru was at the Academy and Arashi was out and about meeting up with his old teammates, even though he didn't know them very long. They walked around until Kushina said, "I'm a little hungry, how about we eat at Ichiraku's?"

Minato, being an intelligent man, wasn't one to argue when it came to her and ramen. "Okay let's go." he agreed and led her to the ramen bar. It was a small shack restaurant with only six barstools. Kushina moved the curtain's out of the way allowing her and Minato to walk through. "Hello Teuchi-san." Kushina greeted.

An old man in his early forties looked up from making ramen and saw Kushina and Minato. "Oh hello there Kushina-sama, Hokage-sama." Kushina giggled telling him, "I told you already Teuchi-san, just call me Kushina; you don't need the -sama."

Minato said to the old restaurant owner, "She wanted ramen again. So let's just have the usual salt ramen and I'll just have the beef ramen."

"Coming right up." Teuchi said with a smile.

Kushina looked around and asked, "Where's Ayume at?"

Teuchi responded while making the ramen, "Oh I sent her to the market to get some more ingredients and other groceries. She just left so she won't be back for a while."

After awhile the ramen was done and he served it to his two customers. Both Kushina and Minato said in unison, "Itadakimasu!" and they both dug in.

As they ate they noticed someone else enter the restaurant. Minato greeted him first, "Hey there Kakashi."

Kakashi was wearing the standard jounin outfit instead of his ANBU armor, "Hello sensei, Kushina-san."

Kushina also greeted Kakashi, "Good morning Kakashi. How have you been?"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, "I've been okay. I saw you and sensei here and thought I'd drop in to say hi."

"That's nice of you Kakashi." said Minato. The three got caught up, talking about things that happened recently, including Haru's advancement in her classes. But her only trouble was she can't get the clone technique down.

Teuchi walked in the back to put some things away leaving the three to talk. Kushina finished her ramen then just sat there looking at her empty bowl. Minato looked over at her and saw her saddened face asking, "What's wrong?"

Kushina sighed asking, "Do you think Naruto would've liked ramen?"

Minato smiled saying, "I'm sure he would, after all you, Arashi, and Haru would kill someone for some ramen.

"He's probably out there right now having himself a bowl of some ramen as we speak." Kakashi added.

Kushina brightened up and said, "Yeah. Well I'm gonna go back home and clean up a little."

Minato stood up setting the money for their meal on the counter saying to Kakashi, "I'll see you later Kakashi."

Kakashi nodded to his sensei and watched the couple leave. Minato decided to walk his wife home before he went back to his office.

* * *

* Next Day: Land of Bears *

Naruto and Kakuzu were waiting at the meeting point for the one hiring Kakuzu for this job. It was raining and both of them had on their straw hats on. Naruto had drawn a target board on a tree was throwing a few of his shurikens at the target to get his aim down, but was too lazy to stand up and get them, so he waited till they piled on.

Kakuzu watched as he went through his whole pack of kunais and decided to help him out a little. He unraveled a long thread from his arm and shot it out at the shurikens and used the thread to loop through all of the shurikens and pull them all out at once. The thread moved in front of Naruto and dropped them all at his feet, "Keep up the practice." said Kakuzu.

He quickly picked them all up off the ground and got serious. He stood up and started to really toss the shurikens at the tree digging them deep into its already scarred trunk. Kakuzu watched how some of his shurikens veered off course and he could see that Naruto wasn't taking the wind into calculation, another thing he'd need to teach him later. They waited for a good hour before Kakuzu sensed someone nearby. "Naruto wrap it up. We got company." Naruto did as he was told and quickly ran over to the tree pulling out all the shurikens with all his strength since they were in pretty deep. After he got all of them he put them in his pouch and rushed over to Kakuzu waiting for their contact.

Kakuzu saw three men walking towards them. One man had ash gray colored hair tied in a high ponytail, light blue eyes, a baby blue kimono with a long indigo colored vest over that, brown gloves, shin guards, and a blue Hoshi headband. His two followers had a dark blue ninja vest and an indigo colored ninja outfit (similar to Konoha except different color). One of the men had black hair that went down while the other was a large bald man.

The three ninjas stopped across from Kakuzu with the leader asking, "Tell me are you Kakuzu the mercenary for higher?" Kakuzu nodded. The man grinned saying, "My name is Akahoshi. My two companions are Shiso (man with hair) and Yotaka (Bald guy)."

"Okay, now what's the plan?" Kakuzu asked.

Akahoshi told him, "Let's go to Hoshi first and I'll fill you in then. Please we don't have much time." Kakuzu looked at Naruto and picked him up and sat him on his shoulder and he followed Akahoshi and his men.


	3. Narutos Element & Namikaze Determination

Chapter Three: Naruto's Element & Namikaze Determination

I am so sorry I didn't update when I said I was going to, but let me explain why I didn't with two words.... Spring Break! I won't say what I did or where I went, but I will say that I had a fucking awesome time, which would explain the late update. Though I hope you guys do like this chapter and I will try and have the new chapter up as soon as possible and as for Naruto's Rise I was at a block for a moment, but I will update a new chapter for that story either later today or tomorrow.

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* Hoshigakure *

Kakuzu, Akahoshi, Shiso, and Yotaka emerged from the Hoshikage's tower. All but Kakuzu had injuries and Kakuzu wasn't amused with how the battle turned out. Kakuzu quickly overwhelmed the so called kage very easily and he didn't even need to use his forbidden techniques. Once the four men walked out of the tower Kakuzu asked them, "Where's my money?"

Akahoshi smiled and pulled out a scroll and unsealed it's content, popping out of the scroll was a metal case full of money, "I'm a man of my word, so here is your payment Kakuzu." Like every other time Kakuzu gets paid he counts the money, but on an occasion like this he closed the case and took it saying, "It better be here otherwise you'll be fighting a ninja of kage level." Akahoshi smiled replying, "If it's one thing I'm known for in this village it's that I keep my word."

Kakuzu raised his hand in the air with his hand open and quickly made a fist. After that a huge explosion erupted at the base of the tower and the entire lobby of the tower gave way and the tower collapsed. The three Hoshi nins were surprised and ran from the building so as not to get caught up in the explosion. Kakuzu leapt high up in the air and landed onto one of the buildings next to Naruto who was in a meditating position and was making the ram handsign. Kakuzu told Naruto, "We got our payment we don't need to stay here any longer." Naruto agreed and quickly jumped onto Kakuzu's shoulder and Kakuzu began running away from the building at high speeds so as not to get connected with the explosion.

The three Hoshi ninjas stopped and looked up at the building watching it as it crumbled. Yotaka shouted, "Should we go after him?" Akahoshi held his hand out saying, "No. This actually works better. A nuke nin appears and attacks out Hoshikage and kills him taking the money left in his office, before setting off a series of explosive tags." Shiso asked, "So do we tell them that Kakuzu did it?"

Akahoshi shook his head saying no, "We can't do that. Until I am able to control the meteorite's chakra we wouldn't stand a chance against that man if we released that it was him. By the time I'm able to do that it will be of no use to us, I'll let him leave with this one, but should I see him again I will kill him the next time." He paused for a moment telling both men, "Let's get to work. ANBU should be here soon and we have to explain what's happened." Both men agreed and the three jumped away from the building.

* Outside of Hoshigakure *

Naruto and Kakuzu were sitting on a cliff and the little ninja was the one counting the money while Kakuzu unraveled a scroll he found inside the Hoshikage's office. He glanced through the scroll and saw that they were methods to use jutsu based off of a meteorite, he remembered the Hoshikage trying to explain the dangers to Akahoshi about a certain power. Though Kakuzu held no interest in such a thing. He made an assumption that these techniques would be useless unless you used the meteorite's power, but that didn't mean that he couldn't make a knock off copy of the techniques. Naruto finished counting the money and told Kakuzu, "It's all here dad."

Kakuzu rolled the scroll back up and told Naruto, "Congratulations are in order Naruto." Naruto was a little bit confused and tilted his head to the side. "What I mean Naruto is that you killed a kage." said Kakuzu. Now he was even more confused, "What do you mean dad?" Kakuzu grabbed the case and told Naruto, "What I'm saying is that I left the Hoshikage crippled and on a death bed, but you pulled the trigger with the explosives."

Naruto followed Kakuzu when he started walking off saying, "But I didn't do anything really dad, I don't feel comfortable being congratulated on something I had nothing to do with." Kakuzu looked at Naruto and said, "Whether you want the congratulations or not is not up to you. Now let's deposit the money and we'll take a little break at the villa." Naruto quietly followed him back to their home in the Land of the Moon.

* * *

* A Week Later: Konoha *

Minato was working in his office talking to his sensei Jiraiya while he was working. Jiraiya was off in the corner with a typewriter on a roll with his new story of Icha Icha novels. Minato was still going through his daily routine of approving and denying important documents, going through the new squads for the newest graduates, picking the squad leaders and going through mission assignments.

Jiraiya was snickering after completing another chapter, "Hey Minato I'm on a roll over here. Yet another masterpiece of the great Jiraiya!" Minato smiled saying, "Yeah and all it cost you were two broken ribs, a few bruises, some lacerations, and fractured skull from the women at the bath house." Jiraiya told his student, "It's all for the sake of my readers who are the hardworking citizens, to loyal ninjas all around the nations, and even the Daimyos. So you can see that I have a lot of responsibility."

Minato rolled his eyes and continued with his work and Jiraiya did the same. The two men worked in silence for a few hours before there came a knock at his door, Minato looked up from his work and called out, "Enter." The door opened up to reveal his secretary holding a document handing it over to him, "Hokage-sama this is a report from a the ninja village Hoshigakure."

Minato took the document and said, "Arigatou." His secretary bowed to him and took her leave. Minato looked over the document and clearly heard his sensei say, "Tell me why we have an alliance with them? That village has no ninjas worth mentioning nor do they have any power we need to concern ourselves with." Minato kept glancing over the work and told his sensei, "True and it would seem that they aren't very powerful neither. Apparently their Hoshikage was killed a week ago by a nuke-nin, they have only a lead that it was a man wearing mask and hood that hid his face and an accomplice that looked to be either a very short person or a child." Minato tossed the document on his desk saying, "Since we are in an alliance with them they are requesting that we send over a squad to help track the assassin and that they will pay whatever the amount is for the mission."

Jiraiya asked, "You gonna do it?" Minato pulled out from his drawer, "Most likely the evidence is washed away since they waited a week, but I'll send an Inuzuka, a Aburame, and a Hyuuga to do the job. I think I'll send Arashi on this mission so he could be happy with finding more information on Naruto." Jiraiya sighed saying to his student, "It's been eight years now Minato… I know that you and the rest of your family believe that he's alive, but in this world and in these times it's highly unlikely. Like with that whole Kumogakure situation last year, ninjas will do whatever it takes to get the edge on others, by any means. With the Hyuugas heiress they would probably use her to breed stronger ninjas and with Naruto they might have had an idea in their head that they could have an army of flash ninjas."

Minato looked at his sensei with unease, but Jiraiya continued, "Look I know you don't like the idea of something bad happening to Naruto, but that's just how this world is. Especially with if it is Iwa then it's even less likely since Iwa's economy is on the low and they would be in a desperate situation to kidnap him." Minato leaned back in his chair and pulled out from his desk a book and tossed it lightly to his sensei. Jiraiya caught the book, he looked at it and then placed it off to the side.

Minato told him, "I named my son after the character in that book because I believed that Naruto would grow up to be just like the protagonist in that book. I wanted to be able to see him actually grow to be like that, but eight years ago as you know made it impossible. Now my family won't give up until he is back home where he belongs, everyone else might've given up after this long, but not us… I refuse to believe that my son dead and my family refuses that as well." Jiraiya stood up and unrolled a seal with writings all ready on it and sealed his typewriter inside of it, he put the scroll away and put on his sandals telling the man before him, "Well I'll be back." Jiraiya opened the window and said, "I'm gonna go on a scouting mission to look for an eight year old who went missing. I'll let you know what I find. See ya gaki." Jiraiya jumped out the window to the ground below. Minato smiled saying to himself, "Thank you sensei."

* Hokage Mansion *

Kushina, Haru and Haru's friends from the Academy were sitting down watching a sparring match between Arashi and Itachi. Haru's friends from school consisted of Hinata Hyuuga, Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Shino Aburame, Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka, and Kiba's puppy he got named Akamaru. All were watching the fight at the Hokage's training ground and were eager to see the fight between the two. Kushina thought it was a bit strange that Itachi would be the one to seek out her son to fight instead of the other way around, Arashi considered himself a normal everyday ninja, but Itachi was known as the strongest Uchiha and a genius among his peers. Itachi though kept seeking out Arashi and always wanted to fight him, Itachi rarely challenges other ninjas and Arashi doesn't challenge others at all.

Arashi and Itachi were keeping their fight a pure taijutsu match and didn't want to risk using weapons or jutsu since a stray attack could harm the kids. Itachi had his sharingan activated and Arashi had nothing but his pure speed on his side. Itachi tried to punch Arashi, but he knocked Itachi's fist away and he punched back at Itachi. The two kept countering the others moves and it seemed the fight would be at a standstill. Both teens stopped however when they sensed someone enter, they looked over to where Kushina was and saw two ANBU ninjas bowing down to her.

Kushina noticed them as well asking in a cheery tone, "Hello, is there something you need?" One of the ANVU was a woman with purple hair and a cat mask while the other had on a tiger mask and he had spiky brown hair. The tiger mask ANBU said, "Kushina-sama, the Hokage needs to speak with Arashi-sama immediately concerning a mission." Kushina looked from the two ANBU to her son and waved him over. Arashi used his speed and appeared right next to his mother in a blink of an eye. Arashi asked, "My father sends for me?"

Both the ANBU were still bowing and nodded their heads. Arashi reached over and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off of his neck, "Alright let me get into my gear and I'll head up there as soon as I'm ready." Both the ANBU nodded again and blurred out of the area. Haru stood up and asked, "Your leaving already? You just got home barely a week ago." Haru began to pout. Arashi shook his head and kneeled down to his sister's level saying, "Look aniki is a ninja of Konoha now, I will always be called away on missions for weeks at a time maybe even a month. This is something aniki needs to do."

Kushina kept smiling telling her daughter, "Besides you'll have to do the same thing when you graduate from the academy and become a ninja like your aniki." Haru looked at her mom to her brother saying, "Okay…" Arashi patted her head and told everyone, "I'll try and get this mission over with quickly so I'll be back to see if I'm maybe made a Jounin sensei this year." Kushina said to her son, "Don't keep your hopes up."

Itachi walked over to Arashi asking, "Mind if we pick up where we left off when you return?" Arashi rubbed the back of his head, "Umm yeah I guess if theres time." Itachi told his friend, "Good luck on your mission." Arashi gave Itachi a thumbs up and jolted to his room to get set up. Kushina stood up from her spot asking the kids, "Okay how about I make you guys lunch."

Choji stood up first shouting, "Food!!!" Ino hit him in the back of his head scolding him, "Be more respectful!" Hinata bowed to Kushina saying, "Thank you for letting me eat here." Kushina hugged Hinata saying, "Oh your so cute when your polite." Haru said to her friends, "Come on guys lets go wait in the living room till mom finishes cooking." The rest of the kids nodded and ran inside following after Haru. Sasuke started to run, but noticed his brother was putting on his sandals and was about to leave, "Aniki are you leaving?" Itachi looked at his brother and said, "Yes Sasuke-kun I am. Have fun with your friends there is something I need to do." Sasuke said, "I can go with you if you want?"

Itachi made a hand motion with his hand for Sasuke to go. Sasuke ignored it and ran at his brother, Itachi put his index and middle finger together and lightly poked Sasuke in the forehead saying, "Another time Sasuke-kun." Sasuke rubbed the spot where Itachi poked him and saw his brother walk back into the Hokage's training ground before jumping over the huge wall separating the training ground from the rest of the area around them. Kushina watched the whole interaction and kept on smiling saying to Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun are you gonna stay?" Sasuke looked at Kushina and said, "Hai." He ran past her and into the living room where the rest of the kids were at. Kushina then went into the kitchen to prepare lunch for the kids.

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* Land of the Moon *

The Land of the Moon was a giant island in the shape of a crescent moon. Three years ago Kakuzu purchased a villa home by the cliffs of the island that made perfect conditions for his and Naruto's training, he had been saving up the money to get a stable home incase they needed to hide out. There was a ninja system on the island called the Getsugakure, but Kakuzu refused to send Naruto there and instead focused his time on training Naruto. He didn't have to worry about ninjas coming over to his home since they rarely come out to the side they live on. The island was a kind of resort for civilians, ninjas, and daimyos alike, the island had fancy restaurants, hotels, casinos, and many other kinds of entertainment.

Kakuzu visits the casinos, but takes Naruto with him ever since they went to an underground casino and Naruto cleaned out the whole hotel and he didn't even know how to play. Naruto won at Craps, Black Jack, Poker, even the slot machines, the Devil himself couldn't best this kid in betting games. Naruto had luck that even God would envy, Kakuzu would take Naruto to the casino only once every time they came home, if they went every day then Naruto would be banned from every casino on the island. The two walked the stone path to their home coming to a two story villa, painted white with the brown tiles on the roof, six rooms, three bathrooms, a living room, a den room, and a study. Though smaller from most villas on the island it fit the two perfectly. Kakuzu made the ram handsign and the kanji for the word 'Key' appeared over the door and it opened up by itself.

Kakuzu told Naruto, "I'm going to the bank on the island to deposit the money from our recent mission and I'll be back later. I want you to go into the weight room and begin your exercises, when I return I'm going to start your element training. Understood." Naruto nodded and Kakuzu said, "Good. I'll see you later." Kakuzu walked back down the path back to town to the bank. Naruto walked inside the house and closed the door, once the door shut the kanji for the word 'Lock' appeared and it locked up the door. Naruto took off his sandals and his cloak, he hung up his cloak on a rack that was to his right and he placed his sandals neatly by the wall. Naruto walked throughout the entrance way passed the kitchen and into a room that was on the first floor.

Naruto opened the door and inside the room were weights of all sizes, some were even bigger than Naruto. He walked over to one of the windows and opened up the blinds to let some light in while he trained, after he did that he opened the window letting fresh air in as well. Naruto reaches up and takes off his mask and hood allowing his whole face to be shown. Naruto's face was completely normal, no scars or any other kind of marking was on his face, but his hair was very long. Instead of his being wild and spiking everywhere his hair was spiked going backward away from his face and his hair was long going a little bit passed his shoulder blades. Naruto unravels a black hair tie from his wrist and ties his long hair into a pony tail.

After he tied up his hair he walked over to some weights that were perfect size weights for him. He started on his workouts he always does whenever he comes home, though he couldn't wait to begin his element training. Kakuzu had told him many times before that he was a little to young to start any kind of real ninjutsu training, but seeing as how he wants to teach him now means that Naruto might just be ready for it.

* Three Hours Later *

Kakuzu finished his business in town and was currently carrying a small slip of paper in his hand that he picked up from a ninja shop in town. He could clearly see his home walking up the stone path, doing the same thing as he did before he unlocked the door to his home and locked it back up with the same seal method. He looked on the coat rack and saw that Naruto had his cloak already put up, he took off his cloak and put it on the rack, took off his sandals and walked to the weight room. When he opened the door he saw Naruto was hanging upside down on one of the wooden beams on the ceiling while lifting weights. Naruto paused and saw Kakuzu walk in and he dropped the weights on the ground not minding that the two weights dented the floor, he unhooked his legs from the beam and turned his body in the air and landed on his feet.

Naruto was breathing heavily, sweating bullets, and Kakuzu can only assume that he hasn't stopped working out since he left him. Naruto asked, "So when do we start my element training?" Kakuzu held out a piece of paper saying, "Take this paper and charge chakra into it." Naruto took the paper and just looked at it for a moment and he heard Kakuzu say, "If you charge chakra into that slip of paper we will know what nature you are. If your lightning the paper crinkles, if your fire the paper burns, wind will slice it in half, earth crumbles it away, and water makes the paper get wet." Naruto closes his eyes and holds the paper between his index and middle finger focusing his chakra through the paper. A second later the paper splits down the middle.

Naruto opens his eyes and says, "So I'm a wind nature?" Kakuzu nods his head, "Yes you are." Kakuzu brings his hand to his chin and says, "I'm not going to teach you any jutsu until your body is truly ready to handle the strain, until then I'm going to teach you to turn even a rusty kunai into the sharpest weapon you could have." Kakuzu looks at the table to his right and sees Naruto's mask and hood, he grabs them and tosses them both to Naruto, "Put your mask back on and we'll start your training up the mountain." Naruto takes the hood first and puts it over his long hair and tucking it into the collar of his black shirt, then he takes his mask and wraps it over his hood and hooking it so that his nose and mouth were covered.

Kakuzu walked out of the room with Naruto following behind him, the two went into the kitchen and packed a few days worth of food and placed it into a pack. Naruto grabbed a single kunai and put it into his ninja pouch. After they finished packing they left the house and headed for the island's only mountain.

* Top of the Mountain *

The air was thin up the mountain, but thanks to Naruto's training he was able to withstand the limited air up there. They stopped next to a small pond that was frozen over because of how cold it was up there, but they were mostly up there because there was no one up there to bother Naruto's training. Kakuzu had taken seven branches off of a few trees that had a lot of leaves on them. Kakuzu sat down and explained, "Okay this is how we will start." He tosses the pack off to the side and says, "Listen I don't expect you to pass this training exercise quickly. In fact I don't think you'll get to the second phase until next year possibly." Naruto looks a little discouraged, but hears him say, "The reason I say this is because your awfully young to begin such training, but if you master your element stages before Academy graduates then you'll have an enormous edge over them." Kakuzu holds his hand out pointed to a rock across from him. Naruto gets the message and sits down crossing his legs. Kakuzu takes off a single leaf off of one of the branches and hands it to Naruto telling him, "Take this leaf and hold it between both your hands…"

Naruto does as he's told and holds it between his hands so that it's directly between his palms. Kakuzu tells him next, "Now your going to cut that leaf with just your chakra alone, once you've cut the leaf completely in half I will teach you the next step." Naruto nodded agreeing with Kakuzu and started to try and cut the leaf in half with his chakra.

Kakuzu took this moment and decided to get some rest, he walked away from Naruto and leaned against a rock to sleep. Naruto kept sending chakra into his hand and checked every other minute to see the results, but every time it was the same. Naruto looked at the leaf and thought, 'I will pass this stage before this month is up. I swear it!' Naruto closed his hands around the leaf again and started to try and cut the leaf in half again.

Kakuzu had his eye cracked a little as he watched Naruto train thinking, 'That was all the motivation he needed. You'll pass the first stage, but not anytime soon.' Kakuzu closed his eyes again to enjoy the little peace he gets in life.

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* Konoha: Hokage Tower *

Minato was sitting at his desk going over the mission with the four ninjas assigned to the mission, "Okay this is a B-Rank mission and you'll only be body guards and you'll help with the tracking. If you cannot find anything that could lead you into the assassins trail then you are to immediately return back home." He looked at the ninjas before him. One was his son, the other was a young ninja wearing a light cream colored jacket with a high collar, brown short hair, a four foot gourd on his back, and black glasses. The second was a woman with fan-like tattoos on both of her cheeks, brown hair tied in a ponytail with bangs on each side of her face, a light green ninja vest, tight bike shorts, and light green wrist bands. The fourth and final was a man wearing the standard Jounin attire, his headband was made into a bandana that covered the top of his head, white pupil less eyes.

He continued by saying, "Now apparently the assassin or assassins killed the leader in his own tower in an underground training area reserved for him. After they killed him they activated explosive notes that buried him deep underground, they seem to think that he either was killed before the tags went off or the tags were the cause of his death. Either way they want the assassins brought back dead or alive. Personally I don't understand why such a mission was asked, but I accepted this mission because of the alliance we have with them. Arashi Namikaze, Hana Inuzuka, and Ko Hyuuga, you will follow Hayashi Aburame as he will be the team leader on this mission." He paused for a moment asking them, "Do you all understand your mission?"

All of them said in unison, "Hai Hokage-sama!" Minato smiled and waved them off. Arashi stayed behind however to ask, "Do you think there is any connection with Naruto there?" Minato looked at his son telling him, "To be honest this is the strongest clue we've had in eight years."

Arashi was a little confused asking, "What do you mean dad?" Minato explained, "For the past few years there have been reports of a mercenary going around, no one reports him because they all fear him and they dare not give up what he looks like or his name." Arashi asked still confused, "What does that have to do with anything?" Minato continued by saying, "This particular merc always had an accomplice with him that I now believe to be a child and the two have been working for at least three years, but the strange thing is that eight years ago he went missing and didn't return into the mercenary game until three years ago and that's when his little friend started to be seen with him." Arashi's eyes flared for a moment as he asked, "You think he had something to do with Naruto's kidnapping?"

Minato could see the look of anger in his eyes and said, "It is possible, that child may be Naruto, but there is that possibility that it's not. In any case I wanted you to check it out." Arashi asked him next, "Do we have anything on the guys name?" Minato shook his head, "No, he only gives his name apparently to high paying clients and we don't know who any of them are. He gives a codename to the others which is 'Ragdoll'. Other than that we don't have any leads on how to contact him."

His son immediately turned around walking to the door telling Minato, "I'll make sure to find out who Ragdoll is and if he's connected with Naruto's kidnapping." Minato stopped him as he got to the door, "Remember your job as a ninja first. When you are given a mission you need to handle it as a ninja and put family affairs off to the side, capture him alive if possible if not then kill him."

Arashi had his hand on the doorknob and he only nodded his head understanding. He opened the door and left the room to join up with his squad.

* Konoha East Gate *

Since the four were called by the Hokage they all immediately assumed it was for a mission so they had packed before hand. Joining along with the four were three Akita dogs with black/brown fur covering the top and cream color white on their underbellies. Hayashi like all his clansmen kept his sentences short and unemotional, "Hoshigakure is only a half days travel if we run. We'll get there and do our job as per orders. Anytime when we are relieved of duty you may move around the village freely. Though stay in Hoshigakure territory."

His teammates nodded agreeing with the squad captain. Hayashi told them all, "Now let's go." With no objections from the others they all ran out of the East gate heading to Hoshigakure, Arashi had another thought on his mind all together, 'I'm getting closer to you Naruto. Just hang on a little while longer, aniki is coming.'

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* Sorry if this chapter was a little short. I'm gonna try and get the next chapter updated hopefully soon. Again I will update Naruto's Rise either later today or sometime tomorrow, look forward for it.


	4. Akatsuki

Chapter Four: Akatsuki

Hey! I am very sorry I have not uploaded sooner, I was gonna do it yesterday, but since it was Second Saturday me and my friends hit up the town and were out till dawn. Just trying to make the best of this year. Anyways thank you all for waiting and have a good read.

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* Hoshigakure *

Team Hayashi made it to Hoshigakure on schedule and began their search for the assassin. Arashi started off asking which direction the assassin headed and they were directed that the assassin and his accomplice headed south of the village. Hana and her dogs started off by looking for a scent, she told her team that it was there were a number of scents and that they were all faint. Ko said they should follow it since the villages ANBU was on the trail of whoever it was and that they might find a stronger scent should they follow it. Hayashi asked the current village leader Akahoshi for a few of the villages ANBU so they could find the culprits.

Akahoshi agreed and spared them three ANBU ninjas. Team Hayashi headed south following the scents of the ANBU and possibly the assassin, but the team still had their doubts since the scents were over a week old. Hana's hounds were more mature and their sense of smell was the greatest out of all the other dogs in her clan aside from her mother's dog Kuromaru. After awhile of running south one of the ANBU ninja told the group, "This is where we lost the trail and returned back to the village." The group came to a stop and the Inuzukas got to work all of them including Hana put their noses to the ground looking for the separate scent. Ko activated his clan's kekkei genkai called the Byakugan, veins on the side of his head next to his eyes appeared and it allowed him to see great distances.

Ko began looking for any kind of mistakes the assassin could of made when he made his escape. Hayashi pulled out a map of the elemental nations and examined it, after awhile he pointed out, "There seems to be a few towns along this way. Though they wouldn't do much of a hideout." Ko found nothing in his search, either the assassin was very careful not to leave any kind of evidence or he summoned an animal or something to give him flight to avoid the ground, "I can't see any trace of anything to show what direction he went in. I doubt he was going to take the time to cover up his tracks and risk ANBU catching up to him."

Hana stood up straight telling all of them, "I can't pick up a clean scent, even if we follow it it will just disappear. If that map is correct then there is an ocean some ways from here and the salt in the air will interfere with the tracking, there is also that the air temperature is changing signaling that it will rain soon." Arashi told the ANBU, "We can't do anything anymore. The trail will be wiped out before we get a good trail."

Hayashi asked the ANBU, "Is there anything you didn't tell us? Anything that could help us find the man who killed your leader?" The leading ANBU shook his head, "I'm sorry no. The only thing we have is that the village leader Akahoshi heard the explosion and went to investigate and found the tower completely destroyed and he saw the assassin pick up a smaller person. Though he was more concerned for the Hoshikage that he didn't bother to follow them. After a few more ninjas gathered he sent five ANBU in the direction we are now following."

Ko asked them, "Why didn't anyone hear the battle? I'm sure that since it's underground someone would've heard the battle sounds or even felt the tremors of the fight." Another one of the ANBU explained, "A number of reasons could be because our leader was so strong that his usual training days result in small tremors that the village feels and the sound one could be that either the kage himself erected it so as not to wake the village or the assassin did to avoid any ANBU coming to investigate."

Hayashi brought his hand to his chin, "No if it was the kage, then he would've dispelled the sound barrier to alert that he was under attack and I don't think the assassin would have enough time to erect one himself. Also his partner was seen outside the tower so whoever that was couldn't have put a barrier around the tower." Arashi continued, "There are to many variables to take into account and piece them together. Either way this mission is a failure. I say we return to Hoshigakure." Not left with many other options they all headed back north toward Hoshigakure.

The team made it back to Hoshigakure and told the current village chief Akahoshi about what happened. Akahoshi was a little disappointed that nothing was found, but he still paid them for their mission. Arashi asked the man, "Did you get a good look at who this assassin's assistant was?"

Akahoshi looked to Arashi answering, "No I'm sorry, the only thing I could take notice of was his black cloak and his height." Arashi asked him another question, "Have you heard of a mercenary going around called 'Ragdoll'?" Akahoshi began to think that this was perfect for him, 'So they are on the hunt for Kakuzu it would seem. I could use this, if I can give them a little piece about Kakuzu then Konoha will hunt him down eliminating the problem for me.' Akahoshi acted like he was thinking and said, "Come to think of it… I do know that name from one of our ninjas who said he was meant to do an undercover mission with a man who went by that name?"

Arashi lit up a little, "Where can I find this ninja?" Akahoshi thought next, 'Got'cha', "Unfortunately he died three months ago, but then I was with the Hoshikage as his advisor when giving out missions. He was suppose to rendezvous with Ragdoll and the man giving out the mission at the black market in the Land of Bears." Hayashi asked Akahoshi, "Why would you and your kage allow you ninja on such a mission?"

He explained to the Aburame, "It was to get close to the man assigning the mission. We had reason to believe that the man was on our hit list in the Bingo Book, but it turns out that the man called off the mission at the last minute and he said he didn't see either of the targets." Arashi said, "Do you know who the man who knows Ragdoll looks like?"

Akahoshi again remembered the man who told him about Kakuzu and said, "Yes a man in his late thirties early forties, about 5'6, black short hair with a little grays, and a handlebar mustache. If I remember correctly our nin said that he handed out jobs in a bar called 'Red Dawn'." The group took in every word that came from Akahoshi's mouth and put them to memory. Akahoshi bowed saying to the group, "I hope this information helps you." Arashi grinned and started walking off saying out loud, "More than you know." The rest of the group followed after Arashi after bowing politely to the man. After they were out of sight Yotaka walked out from the shadows watching the Konoha nins walk off asking his leader, "Do you think they could kill that man?" Akahoshi responded, "I could care less, whether they can or not isn't any of our concern. Forget about it, let's have the funeral arrangements for the old man and then we'll continue with the star training. Let's go." The two Hoshi nins walk back to oversee the repairs to the Hoshikage tower.

* Outside Hoshigakure *

Hayashi asked Arashi what he intended to do with this information, he like many ninjas in Konoha know about Naruto's kidnapping and of Arashi combing through the elemental lands to look for his long lost brother. Arashi simply told his team, "I'm going to the Land of Bears to find that man. He knows Ragdoll and Ragdoll has some kind of connection to my brother's kidnapping and I'm gonna find out what it is." He started to walk off, but stopped to tell the others, "You guys can go back to Konoha if you want, but I'm heading to the Land of Bears to find that man who knows Ragdoll." After he said that he continued walking leaving the team behind. The three Leaf nins looked at one another before following after Arashi.

Arashi heard footsteps behind him, looking back he saw Ko, Hayashi, Hana and her ninken following behind, he smiled and happily said to them, "Thanks for accompanying me everyone." Hana gave him a small smile, "Well can't just let you go off by yourself." Hayashi said to his team, "Well let's hurry up and get to Bear country." The group nodded and they all started dashing for the Land of Bears.

* * *

* The Next Day: Land of Bears *

The group disguised themselves as ordinary citizens and Hana had her ninken follow a bit behind so that the dogs look like strays. They were able to get into the underground catacombs that had the black market, rogue ninjas came together and set this all up and none of the ninja nations attempted to bring a stop to it since rogue nins always come through here it was always a breeze to find them. Infiltrating can be easy if you know how. The four ninjas waded through rogue ninjas, thieves, and other kinds of criminals. Ko activated his byakugan under a mask he was currently wearing searching for the bar. The four moved to the side to allow Ko to find it.

"Found it." said Ko, he stood up and made a hand motion for them to follow him. They followed Ko through the large crowds and they made it to a small building that had a red sphere on a sign with the words 'Red Dawn' written in kanji. Hayashi told his group, "Hana, Ko head around back and incase he tries to escape, Hana use your ninken to keep an eye on the front of the building, Ko keep your byakugan activated as well." Ko and Hana nodded as she made a low growl that her ninken picked up that were waiting around the corner. The three hounds walked from around the building and laid down in a group diagonally with the building. Ko and Hana then casually went around the building and to the back.

Hayashi said to Arashi, "Let's go." Arashi nodded and as they entered Hayashi added, "I'll let you do the talking." Upon pushing the doors open the smell of smoke, alcohol, piss, and many other assorted smells would make an ordinary man toss up his lunch. The two remained in the doorway and saw that the entire bar full of people stopped what they were doing and all focused on them. Arashi and Hayashi ignored the glares they were getting and moved roughly through the crowd. They scanned through all the gruff and dangerous looking men and even a few women. Arashi found who they were looking for and he slightly moved his foot to tap Hayashi. The Aburame glanced at Arashi and saw him make an eye movement to a section of the bar. Hayashi looked in the direction and saw the man with the handlebar mustache.

Arashi moved first and started walking over to the man's table who sat alone. Hayashi stayed behind at the bar to keep watch.

The man looked up and saw Arashi stop at his table, "Whaddya want kid?" he said with a deep voice. Arashi sat down at the table with out the man asking him, "I need some info about someone you might know. My name is Kaze." Arashi gave him a fake name so he's not identified. The man cocked an eyebrow at Arashi saying, "You got balls kid to think you can sit at my table without my consent. Get the fuck out of here." Arashi reached into his pocket and and laid down some money. The man eyed the money and asked, "Names Kahn, so what do you wanna know kid?"

Arashi slid the money over to him, "I'll give you more if I like the info. I wanna know about a man named Ragdoll." Kahn looked a little amazed and shoved the money back at Arashi, "Get lost kid I don't know nothing." Arashi insisted by telling him, "I have a mission to meet the man, but I'm limited on info and your the only one I can find information on him."

Kahn gave Arashi a foul look raising his voice a little, "I said get LOST." Arashi returned his words a little more lower with venom lacing his voice, "Listen, you will tell me what I need to know about Ragdoll otherwise I'll get the info out of you by force. Now what will it be?" Kahn chuckled and said, "Big mistake boy." He rose his hand and snapped his fingers. Soon the men in the bar jumped out of their seats and rushed Arashi.

The young Leaf nin was not intimidated and merely dropped his henge and two kunais shot out of his shirt sleeves and into his hands, Hayashi also dropped his henge and unleashed all of his insects. Ko and Hana busted through the back and leapt into the battle and Hana's ninken jumped through the windows and attacked a few people as well.

The little bar room battle ended five minutes later with the Leaf nins completely unhurt, but as for everyone else it was either injured or dead. Kahn was laying on the floor unconscious during the struggle to escape. Hana sighed saying, "So I'm guessing the diplomatic solution was a bust?" Arashi smiled and said, "Well it still was politics, we had the 'yes' sayers and we had the 'nay' sayers." Ko couldn't help but chuckle at that, "Well we got our target. Now I say we get out of here before someone comes and checks this place out."

Hayashi agreed and retracted his bugs from women in the bar after they knocked the women out by draining enough chakra to make them lose consciousness. He then walked over to the downed Kahn and tied him up with one of the bar brawler's jackets and tossed him over his shoulder, "Now let's go." said Hayashi. The team nodded and they darted out of the bar as quickly as they could and made it out of the underground black market.

* * *

* Land of the Moon *

Naruto was inspecting his leaf and found a little nick in the leaf, but that was only if you really inspected it, he soon placed the leaf back into the palm of his hand and began to try and cut the leaf in half with his chakra. Kakuzu left and was down the mountain cooking their dinner, cooking a few rabbits he caught roaming around the forest and he caught a few fish from a river stream that wasn't to far away from where he was. He looked up at the sky and and saw that the moon was coming out a little bit and decided it was time to get Naruto for dinner. Kakuzu's back began to move irregularly and soon a Tiger mask slid from under his cloak along with some black threads, taking form of a large creature with a hunched back it headed up the mountain to go fetch Naruto.

As he waited for his mask to get Naruto he leaned up against a tee and just relaxed, but that was short lived as he turned his head to the side after he sensed someone close by. He got up slowly and prepared himself, but called out, "Who's out there? Show yourself." Not soon after a man appeared and the campfire illuminated him so Kakuzu could make him out.

The man was tall, at least a whole head taller than him, he was wearing a black cloak with red clouds on them, a kasa hat that covered his face, and a giant sword on his back wrapped up in bandages with a yellow handle and a skull trinket at the bottom. A second man walked out soon after, but he was a short hunched over man wearing the same cloak as the first and a kasa hat as well.

The shorter man spoke with a very deep voice, "Your Kakuzu are you not?" Kakuzu wasn't fazed that the man knew his name, but was a little concerned that someone actually found him, "What would you do to me if I wasn't? Mocked Kakuzu. The taller man reached up for his kasa hat and said, "We've been looking for you for quite some time. We got info on you from a guy in the Land of Bears at least a week ago. Your a hard man to track down." He then took his kasa hat off entirely and his face was visible.

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at the man and examined his face, blue skin, gill like features under his shark like eyes, blue hair, razor sharp teeth, and a Kiri headband with a slash going through it, "I see now. Your Kisame Hoshigaki, the Monster of the Hidden Mist." said Kakuzu. Kisame smirked and said, "Oh so you know about me do ya. This makes it a lot easier." Kakuzu crossed his arms and asked, "Why would an S-Classed criminal like yourself seek me out? Also who are you?" Kakuzu was referring to the shorter man.

The short man moved his body slightly to allow his kasa hat to fall to the ground, he had tan skin, a shredded black rag covered the bottom half of his face, and five black rows of hairs that went to the back of his head and then stood up. He then announced himself as, "My name is Sasori." Kakuzu again narrowed his eyes and then said, "Sasori of the Red Sand. Well this is a bit of a surprise, two S-Classed criminals have business with me? Don't I feel lucky."

"You should" came a third voice from the forest.

Kakuzu turned his attention to the forest where a third man walked out. This man had orange hair that spiked up, piercings in his nose, bottom lip, and ears, the same black cloak, but his eyes had a ripple like pattern in them. Kakuzu could feel an unnatural energy coming off of him and remained even more vigilant. The strange man took a step forward and said, "I have a proposition for you that you might like."

* Ten Minutes Later *

Naruto was riding on the back of the Tiger mask as the two made their way down the mountain. Naruto however brought the leaf with him and kept trying to cut it in half with his chakra, but nothing really happened. They finally reached the camp when Naruto saw three people talking with Kakuzu, he leapt off of the Tiger mask and ran over to Kakuzu and grabbed hold of his leg and hid behind him, peaking out to look at the men who were now looking at him. The man with the orange hair looked from Naruto to Kakuzu saying, "If your answer is yes, then meet us in the Land of the Shadows within this month's end. We don't keep our hideouts for very long." The man turned around and walked off with Sasori and Kisame following behind him.

Once they left Naruto looked up at Kakuzu and asked, "Dad? Who were those guys?" Kakuzu didn't say anything at first, still looking into the direction the men disappeared in and he told Naruto, "Listen Naruto. I'm going to go see an old friend by myself, I want you to remain in the house at all times, don't open the door for nobody and just stay put. Take some leafs inside and continue your training. I'll even leave Tiger behind so you have protection. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded and Kakuzu picked him up and retracted the Tiger mask back into his body. He kicked some dirt on the fire and on their food and then ran for their home. When he got to the house he unlocked the door with the seal and set Naruto inside with his hand on the door he told him, "Leave the entire house dark, I don't want anyone to know that you are here. Don't even open the blinds. I'll be back before this week ends, I promise."

Naruto nodded and Kakuzu walked over to a tree and pulled a branch off covered in leaves and handed it to Naruto, he then held out his arm and the Tiger mask separated from his body and took it's giant form again heading into the home. He took one last glance at Naruto and patted him on the head and closed the door activating the seal. Kakuzu then made his way quickly for the docks.

* * *

* Three Days Later: Land of Bears *

Kakuzu made it inside the underground black market and immediately headed for the Red Dawn bar. He began knocking people over as he walked ignoring their rants for him to watch where he was going. He turned the final corner to the bar and saw that the windows were broken, walking inside he saw that the bar was partially destroyed and a few of the men had bruises and other kind of injuries. Once the men saw Kakuzu they immediately shrunk down trying to avoid looking at him. Kakuzu walked over to the bar and asked the bartender, "Where is Kahn?"

The bartender poured Kakuzu a drink and said, "Some Konoha ninjas busted in here and arrested the guy. It wasn't difficult to tell who they were. The most noticed was the guy with blonde hair and blue eyes, then there was a chick wit three dogs, another wit white eyes, and the final one was a tall guy with a gourd on his back and a lot of insects. So we had a Inuzuka, an Aburame, and a Hyuuga bust up my place. The blonde hair though, he looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it."

Kakuzu shot out of his seat and pulled the man over the bar and table and demanded, "What did they ask him!?!?" The bar owner was now scared shitless and stuttered, "They… was…. asking… bout…… you… Ragdoll…." Kakuzu pushed the man back causing him to hit his back to his shelf that had many different kinds of alcohol. He ran out of the bar knocking the door down in the process.

He ran out of the underground market and up top and headed back for home thinking, 'Blonde hair? Could it have been Arashi Namikaze? Shit if they have Kahn then they could link him together with my other contacts! I need to get Naruto and we need to get to the Land of Shadows now.' Kakuzu kept running to quickly get to Naruto before someone else could.

* * *

* Konoha: Same Time *

Minato was standing in the ANBU interrogation wing with his son standing next to him on his right and his wife to his left. watching two ninjas interrogate the man named Kahn. The first man was large with an imposing figure with two distinct scars on his face, large black coat, and a gray militant outfit. The second man had long platinum blonde that's tied in a high pony tail, a long red vest with a green ninja vest underneath, tan colored arm guards, and a black ninja outfit.

The three watched the interrogation from another room through a glass window. After some time both the men stepped out and Minato walked over to them asking, "Inoichi, Ibiki, what did you find?" The more larger man named Ibiki spoke, "I found out that the guy waits for Ragdoll to contact him and as it turns out Ragdoll's real name is Kakuzu of Takigakure."

Arashi and Minato were a little stunned and Arashi asked him, "You mean the same guy who attacked the Shodaime a long time ago?" Ibiki nodded and looked to Inoichi who spoke next, "The one and the same. From what I saw going through his furthest memories back was that he received a kidnapping order eight years ago, but I can't tell who it was who issued it. The memory is a little fuzzy, but he was to meet up with the kidnappers and deliver Naruto to whoever it was, but as I said the memory is a little fuzzy to make out. If you can get me a sketch artist I can give you a detailed description of what Kakuzu looks like."

Minato looked to the entrance of the room to the ANBU standing guard making a head nod for him to go find one. The ANBU agreed and quickly left. Kushina stepped forward to both men asking, "Is there anything else?" Ibiki smiled and said, "Matter of fact there is Kushina-sama, as it turns out whenever Kakuzu went to speak with this guy there was always a little kid with him. Inoichi found out also that Kahn asked Kakuzu about his departure from the merc game and he was told that he went into hiding to teach the kid how to become a ninja. He asked him what the kid's name was, but Kakuzu didn't release that."

Arashi eyes sparked with intensity as he said, "Then there's no doubt about it, with this kind of evidence it's clear that Kakuzu still has Naruto." Minato was a little relieved that they found something more, he looked over to Kushina and saw her crying tears of joy. "Surely he must know of some more people who know Kakuzu. If we can find that out then we can squeeze Kakuzu into a position where he will get desperate and he'll eventually slip up." said Minato.

Inoichi nodded telling him, "As it turns out Hokage-sama there are two other men who might know of Kakuzu, like Kahn they have their fingers in every kind of good information. One man lives in the Land of Meadows and the other lives close to the border of our country, the one in Meadows is named Rook and the other is named Kei." Minato smiled and told Inoichi, "I'm heading to the tower to get the missions started, I need you to give the accurate description to the artist of Kakuzu, Rook, and Kei and then meet me in my office Inoichi." Minato started heading for the door and both Ibiki and Inoichi saluted the kage and both the other Namikazes. Kushina thanked them for their hard work and left following her husband with Arashi following next to her.

Arashi was very happy that they would soon have Naruto back again, but he wasn't as happy as his mother was. He looked at her and felt an aura of happiness and relief radiating off of her, the smile she had on couldn't be matched and she was still crying tears of joy at the news. Minato was excited, eight long years and he would finally get to see his son. Not once has he seen Naruto since he was on the front line of the Kyuubi attack and didn't have time to come see him, he had sent for an ANBU to fetch his daughter for the sealing, but when returning to see his son he was gone. Now he finally would after eight long years.

* * *

* A Few Hours Later: Land of the Moon *

Naruto had lit some candles and was sitting in the living room holding the leaf between his hands trying to cut the leaf in half. He kept trying and trying, stopping for a moment he thought back to all the books and scrolls he was reading a long time ago. When it hit him that he did read a book about elements and how the book gave a tip about wind element and how it's the best as in a short to mid range fight and it can sharpen any weapon by adding you nature to it. Naruto remembered also that you have to cut your chakra in half and grind the two together sharpening them and making the points thin, the thinner and sharper it is the better it is. Naruto tossed the leaf with the small nicks in it off to the side and grabbed a new one from the branch Kakuzu gave him.

He sat down in a meditating position thinking sharp and thin. He held the leaf in his hands and began forcing chakra into his hands and then he felt something, he opened his hands up and looked at the leaf, though at most points kids would be jumping for joy, but Naruto looked at the leaf as if it was plain and saw a gash in the leaf that cut almost halfway into the leaf. Naruto tossed the leaf to the side and grabbed another, but as he reached out for the leaf he felt extremely tiered and collapsed falling asleep from exhaustion.

The Tiger mask walked over to Naruto to inspect if he was okay and then grabbed a small blanket that was draped over the couch in the living room and put it on Naruto. Then it walked to the corner of the room and sat down watching over him until Kakuzu returns.

* * *

Now I know where I'm going with this so no need to worry. Now as for my other story 'Naruto's Rise' I will update either today or tomorrow, if it's tonight then I'm pulling an all nighter since I left it a quarter of the new chapter finished. So I will update this one sometime in the week. Have a nice everyone.


	5. Bad News Keeps Coming

Chapter Five: Bad News Keeps Coming

Hello everyone. Well here is the next chapter in 'Raised a Criminal' hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

* * *

* An hour before dark: Konoha: Hokage Tower

Minato was sitting at his desk memorizing the sketches done by the villages well know sketch artist. Kushina was also in the office along with a few other ninjas. Minato held up the three pictures to the ninjas in front of him saying, "These three are who you will be looking for." Minato holds up one picture at a time next, after holding up the first one to them he says, "This man's name is Rook he lives in the Land of Meadows in a run down inn." The man named rook was an elderly man somewhere in his fifties, bald head, a long gray beard, and a scar on the top of his head.

Minato then held up the next picture, "This man is named Kei. From what Inoichi gathered was this man lives on the border between Konoha and Amegakure in fairly large town called Rabun." The man called Kei was at least thirty years of age, black hair, a broad jawline, dark blue eyes, and earrings in both ears. Finally Minato held up the last picture of Kakuzu with his mask and hood on saying, "This is the man we are looking for. Earlier today I sent a squadron over to Takigakure since this man apparently hails from there judging by his headband seen by Inoichi going through our prisoners mind. As far as we know percentage wise there is a 90% chance that he either kidnapped my son himself or got ahold of him somewhere along the line."

He set the pictures on his desk saying, "The main thing is this. I'm giving your squads an Inoichi and a Hyuuga to conduct your search, so here it is find these men, interrogate them to see if you can find any information about Kakuzu especially his location. Once you find that out I'll need you to send a message back to us and I'll send reinforcements for you to capture Kakuzu. Am I understood?"

The ninjas called in the room were Kakashi still wearing his ANBU uniform, Arashi, Hana and her ninken, and Ko. Among them where another Hyuuga named Takuma and two Yamanaka clan members named Gin and Hyo, and the final one was a young woman with purple hair, a brown coat jacket, a fishnet shirt underneath, a short skirt, and shin guards named Anko.

The eight ninjas walked over to the Hokage's desk and looked at the three pictures so that their faces were etched into their minds. Once that was done Minato told them, "Kakashi, Arashi, Gin, and Ko will take Kei here in Fire country with Kakashi as squad leader. Anko, Hana, Hyo and Takuma will take Rook in Meadows with Anko as squad leader. As I said before I don't want any of you to attack or come into contact with Kakuzu by yourselves. Alert Konoha and I will send reinforcements. Got it?"

All of them said in unison, "Hai Hokage-sama!!"

Minato smiled and told all of them, "Good, you all leave in an hour before you leave. Team Kakashi will meet at the west gate and Team Anko will meet at the south gate. If either one of you completes your mission first I want you to rendezvous with the other squad and exchange info by going to where the other squad is." Minato rolled out a map and pointed a line from Meadows to the town Rabun saying, "Make sure to take this path so in the case that you run into each other. Now you are all dismissed." The eight ninjas bowed and then left the room to get packed up for their missions.

Kushina moved from the couch that was off to the side of the room to standing behind her husband hugging him with her chin resting on his shoulder saying, "Your doing an excellent job as kage. Sarutobi would be proud of the job your doing." Minato leaned his head back and kissed Kushina on her cheek the best he could saying, "Thanks for saying that."

There was a knock at his door and he immediately called out, "Come in please." The door opened up revealing his secretary. She walked over to his desk and gave a polite bow to both the Namikazes saying, "The back up squads you've requested are on the waiting list as per your orders. Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuhi, Might Guy, and Ebisu Tobita are all awaiting your approval to go on the mission as well as the six ANBU ninjas you've requested."

Minato thanked her. Kushina saw that the woman looked a little unsure about something and she asked her, "Is there anything else?" The woman looked up and at Kushina and pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to her saying, "This came from Tsunade-sama today." Kushina took the paper and read through it. After she was done reading it she asked the secretary to leave. The sec bowed and politely left the room.

Minato looked at Kushina and saw the saddened look in her eyes and asked, "You okay?" Kushina crumbled up the piece of paper and threw it away saying, "That woman… I'll never understand her, she doesn't try and contact me for two years and then she finally sends me a letter now… When I needed her support the most she ended up running off with Shizune." Minato pulled her into his lap and started stroking her hair trying to comfort her, "She just wants to make amends. If not for herself then she is probably trying for Shizune. I don't think Tsunade would want to come home if she knew that you hated her, the only people in this world who still mean anything to her are you, Shizune, and Jiraiya and I don't think she could stand it if any of you three hated her."

Kushina buried her face more into his chest and kept mumbling something, which only caused Minato to chuckle as he thought, 'She is more like a child, but I still love her.' The happy moment was interrupted when Minato said, "Some one is here." Kushina got up from his lap and looked at the window and saw Itachi standing there with his ANBU attire on. Minato stood up from his chair and walked over to the window opening it allowing him to enter. Itachi bowed and said, "I apologize Hokage-sama for interrupting you in this fashion." Minato shrugged it off and asked, "It's no problem Itachi-san. What do you got?"

Itachi stood up and said, "The Uchiha clan is planning a coup."

* * *

* Land of Meadows: Team Anko *

The four man cell was currently inside the run down inn inside the back room. The Yamanaka Hyo had three scrolls spread out in a triangular pattern with Rook sitting in the center and Hyo's hand was on the man's head going through his mind. Takuma and Anko had interrogated the man by asking a series of questions and for everyone he got wrong Anko would torture the man. It came down to where they were able to pinpoint the way he acted in their favor which allowed Hyo to enter his mind with out fail.

Anko looked over to Hana asking, "How's the perimeter?" Hana took a good sniff and said, "I don't smell anyone nearby and my ninken have the area surrounded and will alert me if anyone is near, but other than that the area is clear." Anko nodded her head and continued watching Hyo go to work. A full fifteen minutes later Hyo took his hand off of Rooks head and was really exhausted, but he told them, "He doesn't know Kakuzu's exact location, only that he first met him on the coast about three years back."

Anko immediately told her team, "Alright let's go to the town Team Kakashi is in and we will exchange info." The team nodded and they rolled up what they were doing and Hyo picked the man up and took him with them.

* * *

* Rabun Town: Team Kakashi *

Kakashi's squad a little more of fight to handle with this guy. The man was apparently a ninja with a large group of followers in this town, though Kakashi and his team dispatched them very quickly and easily. Gin was doing the same ritual as Hyo was doing with the scrolls and the mind reading. Kakashi had summoned some ninken and had them stay put outside a now destroyed bar. Arashi was also watching over the ritual along with Ko.

Gin finally stopped ten minutes in sweating and panting heavily saying, "How does Inoichi-sama do this?" Kakashi walked over to his comrade and helped him to his feet asking, "What did you see?" Gin took a few good deep breaths and told him, "I saw casinos, a festival, and some bars." Arashi asked him, "Is there anything else?" Gin put his hand up to let everyone know he need to catch a breath and he said, "I saw Kakuzu and the kid, but both had their masks on, but I also saw an island with ninjas wearing the Getsugakure headband."

Ko then said, "So do you know if he lives there or was he just passing through?" Gin was caught up on his breathing and said clearly, "That I don't know, but it's our best bet." Kakashi and Arashi looked at each other and Kakashi said, "We'll take Kei with us and see if we can meet up with Anko and her team. After we put together whatever we have with theirs then we can make a better assessment from this info."

Everyone agreed and they packed up what they brought and left heading to meet with Anko's team.

* * *

* Twelve Hours Later: Land of Fire *

Anko and her team kept running at a slower pace than they should since they needed to stop so Hyo could catch his breath every now and then, there was also the problem with the prisoner mouthing off to them every chance he got which some words that pissed Anko off. They kept going down a path and were approaching a Land of Fire landmark which was of a giant red statue of a fire.

Takuma had the trademark byakugan activated and saw the statue telling Anko, "Teichou (captain)! I can see Kakashi's team up ahead!" Anko told them, "Okay guys let's pick up the pace a little."

Kakashi and the others were sitting at the statue awaiting Anko and the others. Ko saw them with his byakugan as well and told his team, "They are here." Kakashi was leaned up against the statue reading an orange book, he put it away and saw Anko and her team jump down in front of them. Hyo tossed the old man Rook off of his shoulders and in front of Kakashi saying, "It was a pain in the ass to get here."

Arashi walked over to the group and asked, "What did you find?"

* Ten Minutes Later *

Both teams exchanged information that they acquired from the two men and were a bit pleased with the results. Kakashi summarized, "Since both men saw Kakuzu in what would appear to be the Land of the Moon, then it's either Kakuzu makes a regular appearance there, he goes there to meet his informants, lives there, or he likes the gamble." Hyo added, "Only twice have I seen Kakuzu in this guys memories that he would make a journey to meet him on the coast. Also where they meet is a close proximity where the ferries take travelers to the island."

Gin was thinking and said, "It would seem that Kei also meets him somewhere near the coast, but he went to the island for a little vacation and ran into Kakuzu by mistake. This can't be a coincidence, Kakuzu lives in Moon country." Arashi looked to Kakashi and asked, "Will we alert the Hokage?" Kakashi continued listening to what the two Yamanakas said and came to the same conclusion. He did a few handsigns and slammed his hand on the ground, a small pop of smoke appeared and a small dark brown pug appeared wearing a blue vest and a konoha headband. The little pug asked in a deep gruff voice, "Kakashi what do you need this time?" Kakashi kneeled down and told the little pug named Pakkun, "I need you to give Konoha the message that Teams Kakashi and Anko have discovered a possible location of Kakuzu. Tell the Hokage that we have enough evidence to prove that Kakuzu is in Getsugakure and that he'll need to send approval to Getsugakure to allow us entry to capture him."

Pakkun nodded and said, "Alright were should I have the squad that comes for reinforcements come meet you?" Kakashi told Pakkun, "In this location. Got it?" Pakkun lifts his paw and says, "No problem." Immediately the pug jetted off at amazing speeds kicking a giant gust of dirt into the air. Ko asks Kakashi, "What will we do with Kei and Rook?" Kakashi looks from Ko to Arashi and gives him a simple head nod. Arashi understood and did a few handsigns and slammed his hand into the ground and like Kakashi a pop of smoke appeared by his hand. Out of the smoke popped a tiny green frog with two orange stripe patterns on it's back, Arashi tells the frog, "I need you to take these two men to my father as soon as possible."

The hand sized frog hops over to the two men and it flicks it's tongue out at one man and wraps it's appendage completely around the man and sucks the man into it's small mouth somehow. After it swallows the first man it looks to the second and does the same thing to him that it did to the other, soon after swallowing both men it disappears into the same puff of smoke it appeared in.

Kakashi tells everyone, "Okay now we will await the reinforcements here. Most likely it will take a day before we they arrive, so we will set up camp a little ways off from this statue." No one objected and they followed Kakashi to a more suitable location to await their back up.

* * *

* Three Hours Later: Konoha *

Minato was going through a few files with dread filling how his evening was turning out and the surprising information Itachi brought to his attention. As he was going through a the last file a knock at his door caught his attention, "Enter." said the Hokage. The door opened up showing his secretary holding an all to familiar dog. Minato looked to his secretary and said, "You can leave him I can handle it from here." His secretary nodded and placed the little dog on the floor and left the room. Minato walked around his desk to look at the dog asking, "So Pakkun what did Kakashi and the others discover?" Pakkun looked a little out of breath as he said, "Kakashi wanted me to tell you that they found a possible location of Kakuzu in Getsugakure and he is requesting the squad you have for them and to send a message ahead to Getsugakure to let them move in."

Minato nodded and told him, "I was expecting you for awhile now. Not to long ago one of my toads came to me and brought with it some prisoners. Well Pakkun where are they?" Pakkun told Minato, "They are at the statue landmark for Fire country. Know where it's at?" Minato nodded and said, "Alright Pakkun your excused, I'll send the information and the reinforcements." Pakkun nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving Minato in his office who immediately got to work on setting up the reinforcements and the parley to Getsugakure.

* * *

* The Next Day: Land of Fire Landmark *

Kakashi and the other ninjas were awaiting their reinforcements after the day passed. Takuma was keeping watch with his byakugan activated and kept a close eye out for their team, he soon spotted them and alerted the others. The eight man squad and the three ninken moved out to go meet the reinforcements. Kakashi and the others made it to the landmark and looked down the dirt path and saw the four man cell from Konoha and six ANBU ninjas behind them.

There were three men and a woman running to meet them. The first man had black hair in a bowl style haircut, bushy eyebrows, a bright green jumpsuit, a red headband tied around his waist, a green jounin vest, and orange leg warmers. The second man had brown eyes, short spiky black hair and beard, the standard Konoha uniform, a sash with the kanji for the word 'Fire' around his waist, a headband around his forehead, and two bracelets one on each wrist.

The third and final man had his headband converted into a bandana that covered the whole top of his head, black circle sunglasses, blue long sleeve ninja shirt with red swirls on the shoulders, and blue ninja pants. The woman in the group had deep red eyes, long black curly hair, blue eyeshadow makeup, a deep red ninja sleeve less shirt, with a jounin vest over that, deep red ninja pants, arm wraps around her forearm, and a ninja headband around her forehead.

When the team met up with Kakashi and the others the bushy browed man shouted, "Kakashi! My old friend where do we go from here?" Kakashi said to him, "Good of you to make it Guy." Kakashi's eyes drifted to the man with the bandana and said, "Hey there Ebisu."

Ebisu adjusted his glasses and said, "Hello to you to Kakashi-san."

Anko moved next to the kunoichi who arrived and lightly elbowed the woman in her waist teasing her a little, "Oi Kurenai-chan, did you get any alone time with Asuma over there?" Kurenai looked to the bearded man ignoring Anko a little saying, "Your hopeless Anko." Arashi broke up the little chit chat between everyone saying to Kakashi, "When do we leave Kakashi? This is an important matter and we are just wasting time when we could be moving."

Everyone looked at Arashi and how serious his tone was. Kakashi said to everyone, "Arashi has a point. We are about a few hours away from the coast where the ferry takes passengers to Getsugakure or rather the Land of the Moon, added that we do not know when the ferries run so let's move out." Everyone nodded and the all dashed off to the coast trying to catch the man named Kakuzu.

* * *

* Two Hours Later: Port Town - Land of the Moon *

The Konoha ninjas made it to the town that ferries people from the numerous islands around the continent and even taking cruises along the coast line all the way to Kiri. The large squadron met up with a Moon nin who was awaiting their arrival from the letter they received from Minato many hours ago, the ninja chief was going to allow this and even set up a team to where they recognized Kakuzu was staying at to make sure that he did in fact make it up to his villa. The large squad took a private boat that only Moon nins were allowed to take for faster usage. The boat was large enough to take the large squad to the island. As everyone was standing around waiting to reach the island Arashi and Hana were standing away from everyone else. The young kunoichi would steal a glance at him every chance she would get.

This didn't go unnoticed by the young ninja as he smiled at how she thought she was going unnoticed. Kakashi was being badgered by his 'rival' about being asked to challenge him to a battle, Anko and Kurenai were at the front of the ship talking, Ko and Takuma were on the captains deck relaxing for a moment. The ANBU were down below waiting as well. Asuma took to the starboard side smoking a cigarette with Ebisu telling him how bad that was for his health, and finally the two Yamanakas were sitting near the back of the boat with Hana's ninken.

The Moon nin was steering the boat. Takuma had his byakugan activated and was just looking below the ocean out of boredom, after awhile he focused his white eyes out at sea, then something caught his attention. Ko noticed his family members straining of looking out into the water, moving toward him he asks, "Oi Takuma did you see something?" Takuma pointed out to a section of the ocean saying, "Theres something flying over there, I can't make it out since it's to far away, but I can tell that it's heading back to the mainland."

Ko shrugged it off saying, "Maybe it's just a seagull or something." Takuma shook his head saying, "It's to big to be an seagull. But it's-…. Huh?" Ko looked at the perplexed look Takuma had on, "What is it Takuma?" Takuma deactivated his byakugan and said, "It flew out of my range." Ko shook his head saying, "Look I'm telling ya it might have been a bird, maybe even a few of them grouped together."

Takuma was unsure though, but agreed non the less. The Moon nin announced to everyone, "We are approaching the island." All the leaf nins save for the ANBU, looked over the sides of the boat and could see the island. Arashi smiled and couldn't wait till they actually hit the land. A few minutes later the boat docked and the Konoha ninjas jumped off of the boat and were greeted by a few Moon nins. One of them said, "The boat that docked about fifteen to twenty minutes ago was carrying the passenger you were looking for. Your kage sent us a picture along with the request that you apprehend him."

Kakashi asked the man, "How many men do you have trailing him?" The Moon nin started walking away and made a hand motion for them to follow. The Konoha ninjas followed the Moon nins up a few trails and one in particular that led up to a lone villa. The nin instructed Kakashi that Kakuzu was seen going in there. Kakashi told his team to spread fan out. When they did they saw a few ANBU Moon nins hiding. Hana, Ko, and Arashi were with Kakashi. The kunoichi told Kakashi in a low voice, "I can smell his scent going in the house."

Ko squinted his eyes and said to Kakashi, "There is a powerful genjutsu surrounding the house. I can't see inside, but I can recognize this type, if you disable it then it will alert the caster, it also seems to be set up to a seal of the front door."

Kakashi nodded to both Ko and Hana and he made a few hand movements for the ANBU to come in. Four of the ANBU from Konoha moved quietly to the front of the home along with three Moon ANBU. Kakashi and the leading commander for the Moon nins moved closer as well, but they distanced themselves. After a minute Kakashi made a final hand signal. The Konoha ninja agreed and kicked down the door, the door went down and the Four leaf ANBU rushed in along with the three Moon ANBU.

Once the door went down Ko saw something and shouted, "EVERYONE RUN!" Immediately after he said that the house erupted into an explosion followed by a series of explosions around the house. Kakashi started to run as did the other nins, but the explosions were taking out a chunk of the cliff area causing a few of the ninjas to lose their footing and fall off. A few more explosions went off and Kakashi, another ANBU, and Hana lost their footing as the ground collapse from under them.

One of the ANBU nins looked and saw them fall and so did Arashi. The blonde nin turned around and jumped off of the cliff to where Hana was, the ANBU on the other hand closed his hands together and shouted, "Wood Style!" Wooden tentacles came out of the cliff and wrapped around Kakashi before he was halfway down the cliff. Kakashi gave him a thumbs up for the save, but he couldn't save his fellow ANBU comrade who fell to his death.

Meanwhile Arashi was able to dive after Hana, he grabbed her by her arm and held onto her tight. He spun around and pulled out a tri-pronged kunai, tossing it with all his might straight up in the air. The kunai went up at least seven feet above the cliff wall and the two ninjas disappeared and reappeared approve the cliff. Arashi reached out and grabbed the cliff top. Anko and Ebisu rushed over to help the two ninjas up.

The ANBU nin made his wooden jutsu pull Kakashi safely up. Once everyone was safe they retreated farther away so as not to risk the chance of another set of explosions. After everyone caught their breath more Moon nins appeared to see what happened. Ko walked over to Kakashi and said, "The moment they kicked the door down the genjutsu broke, but once it did the seal activated the explosive tags set in and around the house."

Arashi quickly asked, "Did you see anyone in the house?" Ko shook his head, "Even as the explosions were going off the only bodies I could see were the ANBU that went in. I didn't see anyone else." Arashi breathed a sigh of relief and frustration. Asuma was with them and said, "Quite possibly he set up the trap knowing he was followed." He pulled out another cigarette and lit it saying, "He probably descended down the cliff edge and made it around that way."

One Moon nin interjected, "That's impossible. The waves that come in from that side of the island are vicious, the walls are always extremely wet, the winds are savagely strong and you can't walk on the water since the waves are to strong and will smash you against the cliffs. You can't even post a boat on that side of the island let alone swing past that area."

Kakashi tried to think of a rational explanation, but came up with none. Takuma immediately came forward and asked the Moon nin, "What about flight or gliding?" The ninjas close to Kakashi looked to Takuma. The ninja simply answered, "Well yeah that is a possibility the winds could carry you far off, but gliding won't do much since you'll hit the sea regardless. The waves could carry you back to the mainland, but by swimming it would take you more than an hour to do so and even before then you'd drown from exhaustion. Flying would be out since our nins were posted along the house, I'm sure they would've seen a flying contraption."

Takuma said to him, "Before we docked I saw something with my byakugan. Something big flying away from the island, now I'm not saying exactly that it was Kakuzu, but if Ko didn't see any other bodies aside from the ninjas that went in, then it is a strong possibility that he used something to fly away from the island undetected." Kakashi rubbed his chin and said, "That is possible, but we won't know. We have to return home. The mission has ended in failure, five of our men are dead and three of Getsugakure's nins are dead. We can't do anything more here."

Arashi immediately punched the ground under him out of frustration saying, "Shit! We were so close and yet he got away! Shit! Shit! Shit!!!" Hana heard him shout and walked over to Arashi and placed a comforting hand on his back. Guy finished talking to a few ninjas and walked over to Kakashi saying, "Kakashi we have to go. The Getsu chief wants us to leave, he doesn't blame us for what has happened, but he clearly said that this is their problem now. He also said that his ninjas will be on the look for Kakuzu and a kill on sight has been issued by them." Kakashi nodded and shouted to his fellow leaf nins, "Come on… We're going home!" Everyone agreed and they followed Kakashi to the pier.

Arashi was disappointed in himself that he failed, everything about his baby brother was right there within his grasp… and yet it was gone just as quickly as they found it. Hana kept trying to tell him that they will find his trail again and not to worry, but that didn't help the young ninja…. not at all.

* * *

* A Mere Twenty Minutes Earlier: Land of the Moon *

Kakuzu was on the ferry boat that takes travelers to the Land of the Moon. As the boat reached the island Kakuzu knew what he needed to do. Once the boat docked, Kakuzu made his way off of the boat and up to the rich district, walking up the path to his home he could see his home clearly, though he wasn't stupid. He knew that he was being followed and watched by a few ninjas that have been following him since he got off the boat. Taking a glance around to make absolute certainty that he was being followed, he realized he still was and now needed to set up as quickly as he needed to. He closed the door and walked inside, not bothering to take off his sandals.

It took him awhile to get home since he went around to a few banks to withdraw his money and move it elsewhere. When he reached the living room he saw that Naruto was passed out on the floor. Around his feet were many leaves that had deep gashes in them, he immediately looked to his left he saw the Tiger mask approach him.

He held out his arm and the mask slipped into his cloak arm sleeve and back into his body. Kakuzu then received the memory from the mask and it seemed that after Naruto woke up after cutting the first leaf he began to do the same to all the others, though not slicing it completely in half. He picked up one of the many leafs and began inspecting it to make sure Naruto didn't use some kind of trick he felt a pang of pride knowing Naruto got this far on his own. Though he quickly looked around and walked into his room grabbing a backpack and loading up on some weapons. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed food that would last them until they reached Shadow country.

After grabbing everything they would need, he pulled out a blanket and wrapped Naruto up in it and walked out to the back of the house on the deck. The villa was half on the land, but halfway over the cliffs of the island giving them a good look of the sea. Kakuzu had Naruto in his right hand and the backpack dangling in his left, Kakuzu's back began to move and web like wings burst through his cloak.

With his left hand he made a one handed sign and the a few shimmering lights came from inside the house, then a few seals appeared around the house. After a minute the lights faded and Kakuzu shut the balcony door leading into the house and then flew off. He flew far enough to circle around the island with out being seen and then headed for the main continent. Kakuzu was now in no real hurry after all there was no need to now.

* * *

Wow... So yeah I'm thankful for everyone who's been reading and I hope to get more readers. Thank you for your time and goodbye.


	6. Akatsuki and Naruto

Chapter Six: Akatsuki and Naruto

Glad to see that this story is a success. I hope this chapter answers some of your questions and if not I'll be sure to answer them to the best of my ability without revealing to much of what will happen down the line. Oh please vote on the POLL I set up on my profile, thank you.

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* A Day Later: Land of Shadows *

Naruto woke up sometime after they landed on the coast and asked what happened. Kakuzu filled him in and told him that Konoha came to their home and he needed to take care of them. The little ninja didn't argue. It didn't take the duo long to reach the Land of Shadows, but Kakuzu didn't have an exact idea as to where the bases location was, he was only asked to come to the Land of Shadows.

Naruto was walking quietly next to Kakuzu taking notice of his surroundings. Despite the name Shadows it was a relatively lively place, animals were everywhere, plants and flowers were growing everywhere. Naruto started to think that with an ominous name like that he'd expected it to be dark and very intimidating. Naruto tugged on Kakuzu's sleeve asking, "Dad, where are we going exactly?" Kakuzu didn't look at Naruto, but he answered, "Don't know yet, but I'll know when we get there."

Needless to say he was so reassured with that answer, but like a loyal dog he followed. Continuing for some time Kakuzu felt another chakra source, he wasn't an expert when it came to sensing chakra signatures, but he could sense the stronger ones. Kakuzu held his hand out to stop Naruto saying, "We got company." Naruto and Kakuzu then saw the ground in front of them shift and rise. Whatever it was began to take form of a giant venus flytrap, the strange plant opened up revealing a man where the left half of his body was white and the other half was black, short green hair, yellow eyes, and the same kind of cloak Kisame and Sasori were wearing when they appeared to him.

Naruto examined the strange man and noticed that the black half of his body was missing a mouth and a nose. He also noted that once the man's full body was seen that his feet were both white instead of his right being black, his hands were hidden underneath his sleeves of his cloak so he wasn't sure how far along the black half went down the body.

The strange man spoke, but his voice seemed to be two people talking at once, "My, my this young lad isn't scared of me at all? That is interesting, most children his age would be at least surprised, but he has no emotion in those blue eyes at all." Naruto said to him, "Well I'm not most children." The fly trap man's white half smiled showing unusually round teeth. Kakuzu started by asking, "Are you with Akatsuki?"

The human plant looked to Kakuzu saying, "Where are my manners, my name is Zetsu and yes I am part of Akatsuki. More like I am the spy that finds the more interesting info for our organization." Zetsu turned around and headed off the dirt path saying, "Our leader is waiting for you. He was hoping that you'd accept his invitation." Kakuzu and Naruto didn't immediately follow, but they did follow after Naruto looked to Kakuzu to see if it was okay. Kakuzu made a head movement for Naruto meaning that it was okay.

The duo followed Zetsu off the path and into a forest in the lining area.

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* Sundown: Konoha: Hokage Tower *

All the ninjas who took part on the mission to Moon were standing in single file in front of Minato's desk after reporting the deaths of their ninjas and the ninjas of Moon, also relaying that Kakuzu knew of that he was being followed and set up a trap for them and escaped. Inside the office along with Minato were Kushina and Jiraiya, the sage ninja returned when Minato relayed information to him through the toads.

After hearing all the info they told him, he finally said to all of them, "So close too. Well there is nothing else we can do, I'll send messages to the Moon chief and talk with him. You can all leave now, head on home and get some rest." All the ninjas bowed and said in a low voice, "Hai Hokage-sama." All of them were unenthusiastic as they all left one by one. All except for Arashi who stayed inside his father's office.

Arashi refused to meet there eyes and he told them, "I failed…" Jiraiya was the first to speak saying in a carefree tone, "Don't worry kid. With all the info we gathered I can set up my network to look out for the guy. I also found out a little bit of info that could give us a little insight about Kakuzu. Apparently this guy is all about money and everyone of his jobs I found out about had very high prices. Though that will get someone so far, but with someone like me searching I'll get to the bottom of this." Jiraiya walked from behind Minato's desk over to Arashi placing a hand on his shoulder telling him, "Just let me handle it from here."

The blonde nin instead shook his head saying no, "I can't do that jii-san… I made a promise to mom and dad that I'd bring Naruto back myself and I intend to keep that promise." Jiraiya moved his hand from Arashi's shoulder to pat him on the head and he said to his former student, "Don't worry Minato, Kushina-chan, I'll find where Kakuzu is hiding out in no time at all and I'll be sure to fill you in on what ever I find. Deal?"

Minato let a small laugh escape his lips and he responded, "Deal. I'll just tell the council that your on your usual routine and will check up from time to time." Jiraiya satisfied with that waved goodbye to the family and left the office shutting the door behind him. Kushina walked over to her son and gave him a heartfelt hug trying to cheer him up, "I'm not upset at all. If you say that you'll bring Naruto back, then I have every faith in you that you will, don't beat yourself up over it."

Arashi slowly returned his mother's hug and he could hear his father say, "Arashi, I'm giving you some leave for at least a month so you could relax." Arashi was about to argue, "But dad-"

Minato cut him off saying, "This is an order as your kage, not your father. It's not forever, just for a month. It will do you some good, also you could start after I tell you of a request a fellow nin asked of me." Kushina broke away from her son and walked over to where the couch was and sat quietly. Arashi was a bit confused and asked his father, "What kind of request?" The young Hokage pressed a button on his intercom allowing to connect with his secretary, "Send him in please."

Two minutes later the door opened up revealing Itachi donning his ANBU uniform except for his mask. Itachi walked over till he was side by side with his rival looking at the Hokage. Minato made the ox handsign allowing a seal to appear on the ground, ceiling, walls, and windows of his office. After that was done he addressed them, "This room is sound proof and has genjutsu casted on the windows so no one can see in to read our lips."

Arashi could now tell that his father was dead serious by the look in his eyes. Minato asked Itachi, "Itachi-san, could you fill my son in on what you told me." More of a statement than a request. Itachi however agreed and he turned to Arashi telling him, "Recently my clan have been acting a little suspicious. Though difficult to explain I found out that my father Fugaku Uchiha is planning a coup." Needless to say Arashi was stunned, "I brought this information to your father and the council, along with some evidence that can back up my statements. When the coup will occur I do not know, but I know that it will be soon and that we must act."

Minato cut in saying, "Arashi, the council came to a vote when this information was brought to us. We cannot publicly come out to Fugaku letting him know that we know of his plans, if we did then he could become desperate in his situation and attack. Fugaku apparently recently informed Itachi in on the coup, but as Itachi said he doesn't know when it will occur. Itachi also said that he tried to talk his father out of it, but Fugaku wouldn't hear him out, so negotiations are out as well." Minato pulled out a scroll and placed it on his desk rolling it on it's side till it reached his son. Arashi picked up the scroll and he heard his father say, "Within that scroll son is a modified flack jacket with numerous tri-pronged kunais with the Hiraishin no Jutsu formula on them already. Arashi…. (sigh) you and Itachi are to go into the Uchiha compound and kill off every one of the Uchiha clansmen and by everyone I mean everyone. Itachi however requested that only Sasuke be spared in this attack, so you find Sasuke and leave him alive. Everyone else must be killed."

Arashi looked over to Itachi and he saw that he was still stoic as ever, no emotion was being shown on his face. Minato however asked Itachi, "Itachi. Is there anyway you can get Sasuke out of your compound ahead of time? Like if I have Haru ask him to stay the night over at the Hokage's mansion." Itachi thought about it and simply agreed, "I can try."

Kushina butted in saying, "I can have Haru invite her friends over for a sleepover that way it's guaranteed that Sasuke will come over if his friends are there." The three ninjas in the room agreed that that was a good idea. Minato said to both Itachi and Arashi, "Prepare yourselves, you attack tomorrow night once the district surrounding the Uchiha compound has gone dark. ANBU will be set up around the perimeter to keep any Uchiha's from escaping, I've already had Hiashi send over his clansmen to scope out underground escape routes. No one gets out… Am I understood?"

Both men said in unison, "Hai." Minato was happy with the answer and said, "Now I want to know what you will do now Itachi?" Itachi rose his eyebrow asking, "Beg your pardon?" Minato asked, "I mean what will you do after the Uchiha clan have been killed?"

Arashi and Kushina stared at Itachi wondering what his answer will be. It took him awhile but he answered truthfully, "I will rebuild. I will rebuild the Uchiha clan to it's once former glory, I couldn't stand by and watch as my clan were planning on killing many in order to control the village… I just couldn't." Itachi looked over at Arashi saying, "I can't do this alone Arashi… I needed help from someone who is on the same level as me and can hold his own. That is why I requested that the Hokage allow you to join me on this."

"I don't mind helping a friend in need Itachi." said Arashi. Itachi gave his rival a simple smile and then held his hand out for Arashi to shake his hand. Arashi reached his hand out and they both shook one another's hand. Minato told the two, "Well head out and relax till tomorrow."

Kushina told Itachi, "Don't worry I'll make sure Sasuke gets his invitation." Itachi accepted that and thanked her. Minato yawned and looked at the time saying, "Well we have a lot to do. I'm gonna lock up early and I suggest that you two get some rest." Again both ninjas agreed and Itachi was the first to leave. Minato dropped the seals around his office and he took his leave with Kushina and Arashi preparing for the upcoming trouble.

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* Land of Shadows: Akatsuki Base *

The three ninjas traveled deep into the forest for quite some time before coming to a stop at a cliff side that had a seal just sitting at the base of the cliff. Zetsu spoke telling the two, "We're here." He brought his ghostly white hand up making a one handed handsign, after he did so the seal was glowing for a moment before the wall began to open up outward revealing a dark cave. Zetsu turned and looked at Kakuzu, "This way."

Zetsu headed in first followed by Kakuzu and Naruto. The cave was huge and wide open with the only source of light coming from numerous candles all lined along the cave wall. Kakuzu looked ahead and saw what looked to be a holographic figure in a rainbow spectrum. The figure turned around showing his eyes, ones that Kakuzu converted to memory as he recognized them instantly. Zetsu spoke to the figure first, "I've brought Kakuzu as you requested Leader."

The holographic image told Zetsu, "Good work. Now Kakuzu does this mean that you'll join us?" Naruto moved a little behind Kakuzu incase something were to happen. Kakuzu was not nervous of any kind, but he was on guard though, "Your not giving me much choice. Chances are that you'll kill me if I say no and if I say yes then that means I'm in a permeant position. Though recent events caused me to show my hand in a sense, so I'm in."

The strange spiky haired holo figure pointed to his left where hanging on the wall was a black cloak with the red clouds, "There is your uniform. Every member in this organization has a teammate, you'll get yours soon enough." Kakuzu walked over to the cloak with Naruto right behind him. He took off his current cloak and tossed it to the side and put on the new one. It fit him perfectly. The one called Leader told Kakuzu, "Reach into your left cloak pocket."

Kakuzu did as he was told and reached into his pocket pulling out a silver ring with a light blue color and the kanji for 'North' on the ring. The Leader spoke again telling him, "Place it on your left middle finger." Again doing as he was told Kakuzu slid the ring on the intended finger. The hologram disappeared and reappeared next to Kakuzu saying, "What I told you that day in Moon was the truth. We capture the tailed beasts that the nations have and we will seal them inside a statue and that as long as your with this organization you will have a place in the new world. No more running, no more hiding, only freedom and peace await." Kakuzu liked the idea of no longer having to conceal who he was and was really tired of it all.

He looked to Naruto and then back to his boss asking, "What of Naruto?" The man's strange ripple like eyes seemed to pierce Naruto's very soul, but despite this the young boy didn't show any fear or even a hint of it and instead he stood his ground. He looked back at Kakuzu saying, "Naturally he'll have a position in our organization, but as he is he cannot be a full fledged member. I know who this boy truly is and his heritage the moment I saw him in the forest."

Kakuzu looked at the man with interest asking, "How do you know?" The leader looked over to Zetsu saying, "Zetsu is our spy that lets us in on the littlest details. This organization has been around for a very long time, but we were more underground hiding in the shadows as we prepared our plan, so when we found out that the Yondaime Hokage sealed away the Kyuubi inside his own daughter and well you know the rest from there."

Kakuzu told him, "I get it, so what will he do?" Zetsu walked over telling him, "I had the idea to use the boy to capture the Kyuubi right from underneath the village's nose." Kakuzu looked to Naruto and told him, "Naruto, go to the other side of the cave." He didn't argue and he quickly ran over to the other side of the cave as he was told. Naruto was not in hearing range, the only thing he would be able to hear is muffled voices at the most.

The holo man clarified, "Since he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage, then we could use him. Have him get close to his sister and get him to lure her away from the others and in which case you and your partner will capture her." Kakuzu asked, "Don't you think that's risky? How will we accomplish this?" Zetsu answered, "Well to make sure he has a definite advantage over the other students I suggested that you and your partner train him for another two years and in which case we send him back to Konoha. Sure they may be skeptical at first, but that's why the initial capture won't occur until he turns thirteen, that way we have a sure fire chance that he will capture her. Basically he'll get them to drop their guard around him."

The leader told him, "Konoha will be suspicious, which is why we need Naruto to make them believe that he is okay. I have a plan all set up, all we need is your okay, I won't force a child to do this when they are not capable of handling it." Kakuzu glanced over to where Naruto was and thought it over. Kakuzu kept running scenarios in his mind asking, "You have it full proof right?"

Truthfully the leader answered, "Nothing is full proof, just like everything else this plan does have a flaw or rather many flaws. It all depends on how dedicated the boy is to accomplishing it." After giving it some thought Kakuzu tells him, "Okay. Naruto will do it. Now what's your name 'Leader'?" The man told Kakuzu, "My name is Pain. Welcome to our organization Kakuzu."

As Pain's hologram began to fade he told him, "I suggest you start training the boy now and if need be I'll send an Akatsuki member to help train him. Also if he can successfully accomplish this mission or if his skills improve dramatically, then I might just consider adding him as a permeant member in Akatsuki." After his image faded Kakuzu shouted to Naruto, "Naruto! Come here!"

Naruto rushed over to Kakuzu and Zetsu. Kakuzu told Naruto, "Get ready. I will be training you non-stop from now until you turn ten, if you thought your previous training days were tough think again. I got two years to really teach you and we will make use of every second of it. Got it?" Under his mask Naruto gave a big grin at that saying proudly, "I'll take it. What ever kind of training you give me dad I'll be ready and I won't stop until I die."

Zetsu made an impressed whistle sound saying, "Boy's got guts." Zetsu tapped Kakuzu on his shoulder to get his attention saying, "We got a little training room set up for when we acquire a new jutsu that they wanna use. It's just down that tunnel and you'll see the second open room." Kakuzu thanks him for telling him and he quickly motions for Naruto to follow him. Zetsu watched them leave and his body began to merge with the ground until he was completely gone.

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* Morning: Konoha: Hokage Mansion *

Haru was sleeping peacefully in her bed when she felt someone kiss her on her cheek. She sat up rubbing her eyes to wake herself up, looking to whoever kissed her she saw her mother sitting on her bed with a warming smile. Haru smiled as well saying, "Good morning kaa-san." Kushina again leaned down and kissed her on her forehead this time saying to her daughter, "Good morning to you too Haru-chan." Haru slid off of her bed to look in her mirror, her long blonde hair was not in a braid yet it was usually her mother who put her hair in the braid although she did learn to braid her hair herself. Kushina pulled a chair that was in her daughters room and sat behind her daughter and began to braid her hair slowly.

Haru asked her mother, "Kaa-san, do you think it would be okay if I stayed the night at Hinata-chans?" Kushina told her daughter, "Wouldn't it be funner if we ask Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, and a few of your other friends over to have a sleepover here?" Haru's eyes lit up and she asked, "Really? Kaa-san I'd like that a lot." Kushina smiled wider and said, "Okay, then let's me and you go to your friends houses and we'll send an invite. How about we have them come over at lunch time?" Haru agreed with that and let her mother finish braiding her hair, she couldn't wait to have a sleepover with all her friends. As soon as she was done Haru tossed off her night gown running to her closet she quickly put on an orange shirt with two vertical blue lines and a pair of blue shorts.

Kushina said, "Oh aren't you excited." Haru grabbed her mother's hand and said, "Come on kaa-san let's go." When they walked out into the hallway Haru made one quick stop to her brother's room, she pushed the door open and stood in the doorway saying, "Hey bro guess what? I'm having a sleep over, that's when all your friends come over and you play games, stay up late, and do all other fun things."

Kushina walked into the room next looking around the room and continued listening to her daughter. Haru happily said next, "When you come back I'll have the biggest sleepover just for you brother! Just you wait Naruto!" The room they were in was a room with blue wallpaper and a red swirl on the ceiling, a neatly made kid size bed, an empty dresser, and a toy box with a few toys in it. Kushina looked at the door and it had a plaque on it that had 'Naruto's Room' written on it. Kushina patted her daughter's head and said, "Come on Haru-chan."

Haru smiled and said one last thing before she left, "Don't worry brother, aniki will bring you home and we'll have all kinds of fun." Haru let one tear fall from her eye and she wiped it away and grabbed her mother to drag her out of the room. Kushina turned around to close the door, but paused when she saw that at the foot of the bed the bed was a little messed up as if someone was just sitting in it. She already knew who it was and she shut the door and followed her daughter downstairs.

In the dining room was Arashi eating some pancakes he made himself while reading a magazine about dogs. He stopped reading for a moment when he heard someone running and he turned his head and saw Haru run up to him happily shouting, "Aniki! Kaa-san is taking me to my friends houses so I can invite them for a sleepover! Isn't that cool!?" Arashi smiled and said, "Well that's cool. I'm sure you don't want your big brother there to embarrass you right?" Haru nodded and said, "Yeah that's right. You always embarrass me! So you can say hi, but then you have to go to your room and not bug us!"

Arashi simply smiled and said, "Will do." Kushina made it downstairs, but Haru ran passed her to put her sandals on. Kushina took a moment and asked Arashi, "Was your father in Naruto's room?" Arashi turned to look at his mother and answered, "Huh? Oh yeah he was. I saw him this morning before he left for the office, I saw Naruto's door open and I saw him sitting on Naruto's bed."

She simply sighed and said, "Thought so. Haru was in Naruto's room talking to him again." Arashi said to his mother, "Yeah, she's hoping that wherever he is that he can hear her. Oh, by the way. Itachi is going to come by here later tonight before we head out. Sasuke is not to know." Kushina nodded and said, "Of course or did you forget that your mother was a jounin before she became a devoted house wife and mother?" Arashi chuckled and said, "No I didn't forget kaa-san. Have fun."

Kushina soon walked out of the house and saw her daughter waiting by the front gate. Haru ran over and grabbed her mother's hand and led her to the first house unaware of what was going to occur that night.

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* Land of Shadows: Akatsuki Hideout *

Naruto's mask was completely gone, his face and hair were completely visible and his outfit was in shreds. Kakuzu was sitting off to the side and watched as Naruto continued his grueling training. Naruto's mission was to get to Kakuzu all the while dodging all the jutsus that would be coming after him. Kakuzu started running through some handsigns at amazing speeds shouting, "Earth Style: Sink Hole!" The ground underneath Naruto collapsed and attempted to swallow him. He acted quickly however by tossing a kunai with a metal thread attached to it to the ceiling of the base allowing him to swing away.

Kakuzu immediately did another jutsu shouting, "Lighting Style: Disastrous Lighting Shot!" He held his arms out allowing lighting bolts to extend from his hand and shoot toward Naruto. Again the little blonde acted quickly by grabbing and throwing six kunai into the ground in front of where he landed. The lighting headed toward Naruto hit the kunais and didn't go any further. Naruto tugged on the metal wire allowing it to fall in his hand and he tossed it at Kakuzu.

The nuke-nin however tilted his head to the side avoiding the kunai. He did some more handsigns and shouted again, "Fire Style: Scorching Downpour!" Kakuzu move his mask down and he blew out from his mouth hundred of tiny fire needles that shot into the air, but then soon fell back down aimed at Naruto. Nearly exhausted Naruto continued on ducking and dodging as many of the deadly fire attacks. Though small the attacks were very fast and burned everything they touched quickly, so you could imagine the burns you'd get if you were hit by more than one.

Naruto continued through the exhaustion and kept moving foreword despite it all. As he got closer Kakuzu did one handsign saying, "Earth Style: Earth Clone!" A muddy figure appeared ahead of Naruto in the form, shape, and color of Kakuzu. Not surprised at all Naruto pressed on pulling out and throwing many shurikens that hit and stuck into the clone. He moved in to finish it off by picking up kunai laying on the floor and attempted to slice it's head off. Though the clone blocked every hit Naruto threw at it and even used the kunai imbedded in it's body to try and cut Naruto.

Trying to allude the clone, Naruto gathered chakra into his feet attracting two shurikens that were on the ground from his previous tries. He kicked out and the two shurikens flew at the clone, but before the clone could react one of the shurikens shot past the clone and headed for Kakuzu's real body. Both Kakuzu and the clone turned their bodies to dodge the shurikens. The earth clone looked back to see that Naruto leapt over it and looped the metal wire around the clones head and he pulled the wire hard enough to decapitate the clones head and Naruto watched it fall apart into mud. Not wasting any time Naruto dashed over to Kakuzu and he got close enough to grab him, but he immediately stopped and ducked to the side avoiding a wire trap that almost got his foot.

Zetsu slowly appeared behind Kakuzu asking, "Don't you think your overdoing it? You've been training this kid into the dirt since you got here with only a total of an hour break." Kakuzu continued with the assault watching him carefully. Kakuzu did one more handsign saying, "Earth Style: Earth Clones." Emerging from the ground were two earth clones this time instead of the one.

The clones rushed at Naruto engaging the small boy in hand to hand combat. Kakuzu answered Zetsu while he watched Naruto fight saying, "No, he doesn't need rest. I know his limits and let's just say that he's got another good three hours." Zetsu watched the training with interest and then walked over to a scroll that had it's contents unsealed, examining it he saw a clear gourd filled with water and a single hay straw. Zetsu asked him about it, "What is all this?"

Kakuzu didn't have to see it to know what it was, "That's called Hero's Water from my village." Zetsu was a little surprised asking, "So this is the Hero's Water. Do you make him drink this?" Kakuzu shook his head, "Yes and no, in large portions you could die, but I found a way around that. I only give him a single drop of Hero's Water at a time and from long periods of time so he doesn't succumb to the affects. It also seems to increase his chakra reserves in small does which shows his large chakra source. I estimate that by the time he's thirteen he'll have the chakra reserves rivaling the one tailed demon."

Zetsu said, "That's gonna be pretty damn impressive for a kid, but how are you gonna get him to drink when he's in Konoha?" Kakuzu answered, "That is where you come in. Since I now know that you are the spy, then you should have no trouble getting in and out of Konoha." Zetsu's white half visibly smiled saying, "Anything to help out."

The two ninjas sat back and watched Naruto fight off the earth clones with his impressive stamina.

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First off the whole Hero's Water thing was a suggestion by by friend, he just got into Naruto and when he saw the OVA with the Hero's Water he told me I should do it in this story. I was reading the effects of the Hero's Water, so in this it's not exactly acurate down to every part so I decided to add my own little twist on it. Some might like it some might not, but either way that's staying. On another note I set up a POLL and need more people to vote on it, I will close the POLL the day after I post chapter 7 of this story so I can give everyone a chance, so if you could take your time and vote. Thank you for your time and I will update this story when I get the chance. Ja Ne!


	7. The Uchiha Purge

Chapter Seven: The Uchiha Purge

Sorry for the short chapter. This chapter though was meant to be like that though and I will have the next chapter uploaded very soon. By the way when chapter 8 is uploaded the POLL I have set up will close so get them votes in.

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* Eleven O'Clock: Konoha: Hokage Mansion *

Haru was in the family living room along with all her friends, Hinata, Ino, Sakura, Shikamaru, Choji, Sasuke, Kiba, and Shino. They were all playing games with the exception of Shino and Sasuke who sat off to the side watching them. Kushina was in the other room talking with Itachi and her son who were about to head out. Arashi told his mother, "Okay, so when news of this gets out Itachi will be seen as a hero for this, but at the same time Konoha will lose a major strength." Both Itachi and Arashi were wearing ANBU ninja outfits.

Itachi cold heartedly said, "It's a sacrifice that must be made. The Uchiha clan must not succeeded or else this could turn into a civil war and other nations might move in during the commotion, the sacrifice of one family to save the hundreds we have in Konoha is well worth it." Kushina asked Itachi, "How will Sasuke-kun take it?" Itachi told her simply, "He has no choice but to accept what has happened. If he hates me for doing this then I can accept that, but this is the world we live in, not everyone gets happy ending." Arashi looked over at the clock in the room and stood up telling his mother, "It's close to the time, we have to go meet dad at the Uchiha compound."

Kushina stood up too and gave her son a good luck kiss on his cheek, "Be careful out there Arashi-kun. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too." Arashi gave her reassurance and said, "I'll be fine mom don't worry." Kushina also looked to Itachi and gave him a light kiss on the cheek and said, "You be careful out there too despite what Sasuke-kun may think afterward he'll need you." Itachi simply gave her an understanding nod and then the two ninjas walked to where the kids were to say goodbye for the night.

Haru saw her brother in ANBU armor and Itachi was wearing his as well. She ran over to her brother asking, "Where are you going aniki?" Arashi kneeled down and placed his hand on the top of her head giving her a smile, "Aniki has to go with Itachi for some late night training, I'll see all of you in the morning so don't worry." Haru only could nod understanding.

Sasuke walked over to his big brother too and asked him, "You promise that you'll be back in the morning?" Itachi kept his usual gaze and told his little brother, "Yes, Sasuke-kun." He asked Itachi another question, "Oh by the way can we head home in the morning? Kaa-san said that she wanted to take me to get some new clothes so I wanted to be there when you got back." Itachi didn't answer him he only told Arashi, "We should go now Arashi before we are late." Arashi agree and he looked to Sasuke saying, "I'll see ya later Sasuke-kun." He stood up and told the rest of Haru's friends, "Okay guys have fun." All of the kids told him okay and they watched the two leave out the front door.

Itachi and Arashi stood outside the front door for a moment before grabbing their ANBU masks that were strapped to their backs and put them on. Itachi's was a Weasel mask and Arashi's was Toad mask, after putting on their masks they jumped off to where Minato was waiting for them.

Kushina meanwhile was inside getting all the kids to set up their sleeping bags in the living room and to go up stairs to brush their teeth before going to bed. The kids set up their sleeping beds and slowly went up stairs with their toothbrushes in hand. This was really the first time the kids were allowed upstairs in the Hokage's house since they were told by their parents that they shouldn't joke or disturbed the Hokage's home and should be respectful. As they went upstairs Choji saw a door that had a plaque on it and he then red it out loud, "'Naruto's Room'… Hey Haru-chan who's Naruto?" All the kids stopped and looked to where Choji was looking and they saw the room and wondered the same thing. Hinata asked her, "I-I-Is the H-H-Hokage and your kaa-san e-e-expecting a b-baby?"

All of the kids had their attention at Haru who was staring intently on the door, but found her voice and answered, "Nuh-uh, that was my twin brother's room." Kiba asked her, "I didn't know you had a twin. What happened to him?" Ino elbowed him in the side and said, "You have to be brain dead." Kiba looked at Haru who looked a little sad and understood that it was a sensitive subject. Sakura spoke up after the silence, "Anyways guys lets go brush our teeth like Kushina-sama told us to." Everyone agreed and headed to the bathroom. Shikamaru and Hinata stopped and noticed that Haru didn't move yet. Shikamaru asked her, "Oi Haru-chan you okay?" Haru finally snapped out of her trance and said happily putting up a fake smile, "Hai I'm okay." The little girl ran to the bathroom avoiding both Shikamaru and Hinata's worried looks.

Hinata said to Shikamaru, "D-Do you think she'll b-be okay?" Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno, but she's tough nothing we should really worry about." Hinata accepted that answer and the two walked to the bathroom to brush their teeth to get ready for bed.

* Twelve O'Clock: Uchiha Compound *

Itachi and Arashi were leaping house to house quietly to where they were told to rendezvous with Minato. The two came to a stop when they saw him standing on a house looking into the direction of the Uchiha compound and they landed behind him bowing on one knee. Minato saw them and said, "Good your both here. Here is the situation, I alerted all the clans that there was going to be a kind of drill and that I ordered all clans to remain in doors until morning. I posted ANBU in the perimeter around the Uchiha compound with my tri-pronged kunai in case any try to escape, there are also Hyuugas posted along with them incase they try and hide in the bunkers underground. Keep your radios on the channel 3. Understood?"

Arashi and Itachi didn't speak only nodding. Minato exclaimed, "Good, now it's all you two. Good luck." Arashi pulled out a scroll and unsealed it's content which was the modified flack jacket with the numerous kunais. He strapped on the jacket and he disappeared along with Itachi. Minato watched their movement and an ANBU appeared out of the shadow saying, "Hokage-sama the permitter is complete."

Minato said, "Good, thank you Ferret. Return to your post and remember to use my jutsu incase you can't handle the situation." The ANBU nin bowed and then disappeared back into the shadows. Minato sighed, "It's time." Minato waited ten minutes and that's when he heard it, screams of terror and battle cries. Even though they were about to betray Konoha he couldn't help but feel his heart ache hearing the screams and then suddenly disappearing knowing that their lives were ended. He had no choice but to shut off his emotions at that point and was forced to stand their and listen to all the voices that disappeared into the night.

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* Midnight: Akatsuki Hideout *

Naruto was currently sparwled out on the ground exhausted to the point of blacking out completely, but the eight years old refused to pass out and fought through it. Kakuzu watched as Naruto tried to force himself to stand up, Zetsu was off to the side as well enjoying the performance the little ninja put on and he did like to observe unique ninjas and Naruto was one of them. Zetsu asked Kakuzu, "You gonna help him up?"

Kakuzu shook his head, "No, he's fine he just needs to catch his second wind and he'll be okay." Zetsu's white half grinned asking, "You have a lot of faith in this boy. Do you really think he could pull off this mission?" Kakuzu shrugged his shoulders, "Don't know. That is if Naruto is really dedicated to this mission." They both saw Naruto finally stand up and he grabbed his arm to stop it from bleeding. Kakuzu held out his hand and a thread came out and pierced Naruto's skin closing up the wound.

Kakuzu walked over to Naruto asking him, "You ready to keep going?" Naruto kept his expressionless face answering, "Hai, I can still go on." Kakuzu reached into his pocket and pulled out a leaf handing it over to him he said, "Good, pick up where you left off." Naruto immediately got to work and took a meditating postion. Kakuzu walked away from Naruto and over to Zetsu, "Just watch, that kid will shake the world." Zetsu watched as Kakuzu left soon after saying that, the plant human looked back to Naruto and saw him concintrating on the leaf. Zetsu said to himself at that point, "This kid is interesting." Another voice came from Zetsu, but his mouth didn't move, _"Agreed."_

Soon he moved to the side and watched Naruto continue his training.

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Again this was meant to be a short chapter. The next one however will be the normal 5,000-7,000 words and will be uploaded soon and it will be a time skip going to when Naruto, Haru, Hinata, etc... are ten years old. For those who didn't vote on the POLL yet I'd appreciate it if you could vote since it will close after Ch. 8 is posted and I'd like to thank everyone who voted.


	8. Reunion After Ten Years

Chapter Eight: Reunion after Ten Years

As promised I got the chapter up as soon as I could and also for the final vote was 79-45 with 'No' being the answer so Itachi will remain in Konoha and not join the Akatsuki, so you know what that means right...? I was hoping you wouldn't since this means that I can create a new character to replace him in Akatsuki (Yeah!!!!). And to give you guys this at least Tobi will be Madara in this story.

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* Two Years Later: Konoha: Hokage Mansion *

Kushina was in the garden tending to the new batches of roses that were beginning to bloom making sure they had plenty of water. As she was tending to the plants she felt a presences behind her and couldn't help but smile, in one swift motion she picked up her gardening shovel and blocked a kunai that came down on her head and quickly disarmed her attacker by bending the arm back making the one attacking drop the kunai. She immediately reached out and grabbed the attacker by the collar of their shirt and knocked her attacker to the ground putting the small garden shovel to the neck. After all of that she kept her smile and said, "That was a nice try Haru-chan."

Haru was laying on the ground with her right arm bent behind her back and her mother's gardening tool to her throat. Kushina lifted her daughter up and said, "Keep that up and one day you will surpass me, you just need to work on your stealth." Haru stood up and dusted herself off, she was wearing a dark orange shirt with black sleeves and black ninja pants. Her blonde hair was longer from two years ago reaching the back of her kneecaps. After she got done dusting herself off she happily asked her mother, "Hey kaa-san can Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan, and Ino-chan come over to hang out? Pleaseeeeeee, I swear that I'll come back here with my friends." Kushina brought her finger to her chin acting like she was thinking, "Hmmmm I don't know about that after all your still grounded."

Haru laughed at her mother joking and said, "Mom please, I promised that I wouldn't do that again and I really want to be with my friends." Kushina pulled her daughter into a hug and said, "Okay, but you'll still need to come straight home everyday after the academy understood?" Haru jumped up in the air with joy then darted off into the house to put her sandals on to go get her friends. She made it to the front door and put on her black ninja sandals and ran out the door. Her first stop was to Hinata's since her families compound was closer to the Hokage mansion. She wasn't afraid to walk around town by herself as long as she stayed away from the industrial district, weapons district, and the old Uchiha compound. Haru stopped in her tracks and thought, 'Sasuke hasn't been the same since then…' She shook her head free of those ideas shouting, "Why should I care about that baka!"

"I think it's because he might be you brother-in-law one of these days."

Haru looked up into the tree behind her and saw her father sitting in it looking at her. Minato jumped down and picked his daughter up against her will and she shouted, "What does that mean tou-san!?" Minato laughed and said, "So your mother let you out huh? And what I mean by that is that It's no secret that you like Itachi-" Haru immediately slammed her hands over her father's mouth to silence him, because a few people walked by giving sincere hellos to the two. Minato waved back with his mouth still covered by he was still smiling underneath it. Once they left Haru removed her hands shouting at her father, "Tou-san! A few people may know, but I don't want the whole village to know!" Minato giggled and said, "Okay, okay I'm sorry. So hime where you off to on a day like this?"

His daughter hopped out of his arms putting her hands on her hips, "I'm going to Hinata-chan's house so I can pick her up and so we can go get Ino and Sakura as well to come over and hang out back home." Minato made an 'oh' expression, but Haru pointed a finger at her father asking, "And I thought you were at the tower tou-san, what are you doing out of your office?"

Minato told his daughter, "I am in the office, well my kage bunshin is anyway. I needed to get out of that stuffy office and away from all those documents." Haru scolded, "Tou-san you know kaa-san would be mad if she found out that you used a kage bunshin in the office again after that one time. By that way why does she get mad?" Minato rubbed the back of his head remembering it all to well. He left his office one day to do a usual stroll around the village and left a clone in his office to finish up some documents. However Kushina had came by to visit her husband and an intense make out session was in progress, but Kushina had accidentally knocked the clone out of the chair making it hit it's head on the ground dispelling it. Needless to say she was pissed that it wasn't her husband and since then he wasn't allowed to do that ever again.

The young kage asked his daughter, "Never mind that, but don't tell kaa-san that you saw me out of the office okay?" At that moment Haru had a little glint in her eyes and he knew that all to well, if it was one thing his daughter was known for it was how she can turn tables on people and how she could get people to do things for her. She immediately spoke in a superior tone, "Oh well tou-san I guess I could do that, but what would I get in return? I mean if kaa-san would be angry with you, then I should get something out of this." Minato had a sweat drop form on his head as he tried, "Now listen young lady I control your allowance."

Haru though wasn't fazed as she said, "True tou-san, but kaa-san might give me a bigger allowance if I tell her that you left a bunshin in the office while you took a stroll into the village without her. Now how can we resolve this." Minato sunk in and knew that she had him, he hung his head in defeat asking, "Okay what do you want?" Haru leapt up and hugged her dad asking, "Well I want you to convince kaa-san to let me have ramen again I can live with being grounded by not without ramen." Minato also remembered this one, one day Haru went over to Ino's and didn't tell anyone so Kushina was all worried and depressed and when the little girl returned Kushina might has well been an Akuma (demon), Haru was immediately grounded and she was not permitted to have ramen for two months…. She is currently going on one day…

Minato sighed as his daughter kept her hug on his waist, "You are just determined to get me sent into the lion's den aren't you?" Haru simply smiled and nodded happily. Minato sighed and said, "Your an evil child, but I got no choice." Haru climbed up to her father's face and planted a kiss on his cheek saying, "For good luck. Later tou-san." She immediately took off for Hinata's home.

He stood there for a moment and looked in the direction of his home and imagined seeing an evil aura emanating from his house with a sign that red 'Death'. He turned back around and said to himself, "Maybe I'll do that later." He put his hands together and disappeared in a swirl of leaves back to his office.

* Hyuuga Compound - Konoha *

Haru was standing in front of the Hyuuga compound, Hinata's clan was now the most prestigious clan and now the most powerful since the Uchiha clan were wiped out. Before the villagers would say that the Uchihas were stronger, but once they were killed Hinata's clan was now the dominate rain of power in konoha next to her father of course. One of the gate guards went to fetch Hinata and had her wait outside with another guard.

She didn't wait long as the door opened up with the Hyuuga guard walking out and Hinata right behind him. Hinata was wearing a dark lavender kimono. Haru noticed that Hinata was depressed again asking in a sincere tone, "You okay?" Hinata looked down so Haru couldn't see her face and then looked back up putting on a fake smile, "Hai I'm okay." Haru knew why she was depressed, Hinata had told her that her father was disappointed in her progress and said she held no promise as a ninja. But Haru kept Hinata going saying that 'Watch Hinata-chan, one day you'll become a famous and strong ninja and when that day comes you'll prove your whole family wrong. Just wait and see.'

Those words kept Hinata going when ever she was depressed. Haru nudged Hinata saying, "Come on let's go get Ino and Sakura so we can hang out." Hinata happily agreed hoping that spending sometime with her friends would cheer her up.

The two girls walked into the busy part of town where Ino's family flower shop was located to go and see if she was in. They waded through the crowds of people, right now it was busy since Konoha was about to host a festival for the day Konoha was founded and a lot of people in the Fire Country come to the festival. The two kept walking through everyone and Haru shouted to Hinata, "Come on let's jump from building from building like real ninjas." Hinata agreed, but the only problem was that they weren't very good yet in terms of stamina aside from Haru who had an inhuman amount of stamina. The two ran next to a building and jumped up high enough to grab the edge of the roof, Haru pulled herself up and then helped Hinata up. Once they saw where they were they started jumping building to building.

As they ran building to building Haru looked down at the crowds and saw many people gathering for this event, but she suddenly stopped and saw someone in the crowd that interested her. Hinata stopped to and stood next to her and she followed her line of sight to the crowds beneath and she saw a young boy walking in the crowd who had a mask covering the lower half of his face, long blonde hair, black shirt that was ripped and torn, black pants that were in the same condition and he seemed worn out and cuts covered his body. They saw him sit down with his back leaning against one of the shops to catch his breath.

Hinata and Haru looked at each other and then jumped down to the boy. Hinata leaned down to look at his face, normally she would be to embarrassed to do so, but embarrassment was replaced with concern and worry, "Um excuse me." The young boy looked up and Hinata's worry and concern disappeared and she was now shocked and astounded, she started to blush since she saw that he had the most beautiful blue eyes she's ever seen. Haru also saw his eyes and thought, 'He's the only other person I've seen outside of my family that have those color eyes.'

Hinata struggled to find her words, "U-U-U-Umm a-a-a-are y-y-you o-o-o-o-o-okay?" He didn't answer, but he shook his head no. Haru kneeled down so she was eye level with him asking, "What's your name?" He didn't answer at first, but he told her, "My dad called me 'Naruto' before I lost track of him." Haru and Hinata looked a little shocked. Naruto stood up and asked them, "Do you know where the hospital is so I can get my wounds looked at?"

Hinata told him, "W-W-W-Well l-l-let u-us t-t-take y-y-you t-there." Naruto's eyes remained unchanged and he said, "I don't want to be a bother." Haru wanted to know a little more about this guy and said, "It's no bother at all. Besides me and Hinata wouldn't feel right letting you go off by yourself in your condition." Naruto shrugged it off and said, "Lead the way."

Hinata and Haru started walking ahead of him and he was following behind them at least seven feet away. Haru and HInata would look back every now and then to make sure that he was following them which he was. Hinata leaned next to Haru whispering, "Haru-chan he looks like your tou-san, nii-san, and yourself." Haru looked back again and whispered to Hinata, "I thought so too, but my dad always said 'Leave your mind open to the possibility that your wrong'. It's to much of a coincidence…. After we take him to the hospital can you watch him? I need to tell my dad about this."

Hinata was beat red, but she reluctantly agreed. Haru nodded good and she looked back at Naruto, "Hey we'll be there soon so don't worry." Naruto responded, "I'm not worried nor am I in any hurry." Haru frowned and said to Hinata without whispering, "He's not very cheerful like the rest of my family." Hinata put her hands over her mouth to stifle a giggle. The three young kids made it to the hospital and Haru walked up to the reception desk asking, "Excuse me. Um my friend and I found this boy injured in town." The woman at the reception desk saw Haru and Hinata though she drifted her attention to the boy and saw him covered in cuts. She looked around and saw a medic-nin off to the side reading a report, "Excuse me sir, this young boy needs your assistance."

The medic looked up from the clipboard he had and saw Naruto, he walked over to where Naruto was and placed the clipboard down on the reception desk. He placed his hands over Naruto's chest and a green light emitted from the man's hands as he did a diagnostic, "Let's see, he has no life treating injuries, no broken bones, no kind of sickness, all in all he's healthy aside from the cuts." He stands up and says, "All he needs is some antibiotics and to be bandaged, don't worry young ladies he'll live."

Both girls let out a sigh of relief at those words. The medic told Naruto, "Alright follow me this way and I'll take care of those wounds." Naruto complied and followed the man. Haru nudged Hinata a little bit, she got the message and ran after them. Haru watched them leave and then ran off to see her father and tell him what happened.

* Hokage Tower *

Minato (the real Minato) was going over the work his clone had done in his absence. He however had a visitor, Arashi had dropped by and was off to the side reading one of his godfather's old books 'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'. Both of the blondes were so into what they were doing that they almost missed the knock at the door. Minato snapped his head up and rubbed his eyes to focus calling out, "Come in."

The door opened revealing his secretary who told him, "Hokage-sama you have a visitor." She moved off to the side and in his view now was his daughter. Haru was breathing a little heavy and she walked up to her father's desk. Minato smiled and said jokingly, "Hey Haru-chan, what's up?" Haru was trying to catch her breath and she asked him, "Tou-san just a little while ago me and Hinata found this boy who was injured and we took him to the hospital."

Arashi chuckled a little asking, "Did some of Kakashi's habits rub off on you and your trying to come up with an excuse to stay out later?" Haru looked to her older brother and said seriously, "I'm not lying! The boy was really hurt and… and…" Minato and Arashi could tell she was really serious. Minato walked around his desk and kneeled down in front of her placing his hands on her shoulder, "That's very nice what you did Haru-chan, so what happened to the boy?" Haru looked in her father's eyes and she saw the strange blonde boy. She shook her head and said, "Tou-san the boy looked like you and he said his name is Naruto!" She saw the look in her father's eyes was that of shock and she looked over to her brother who was now standing up and no longer seated with the same look of shock.

Minato picked his daughter up and carried her out with Arashi following behind him. Minato passed up his secretary telling her in a strict tone, "Find me Ibiki Morino and have him go to the Konoha hospital to find me!" She did as she was told and headed off to relay the message. Minato asked Haru, "Would anyone know where he is in the hospital Haru?" Haru managed to answer, "The medic who looked at him left his clipboard on the reception desk."

Arashi asked his dad, "What are the chances it's him?" Minato couldn't think straight right now, the thought of his son that he's never seen yet here in Konoha was all he could think about. Arashi tried asking, "Should we tell mom?" Minato immediately said, "No, by the off chance that this isn't Naruto then I don't want to get her hopes up and it turns out it's not him." The moment the two left the building the dashed off at amazing speeds that made them out as yellow blurs. Minato and Arashi were running so fast that the ANBU who follow after the Hokage couldn't keep up and Haru was holding onto her father with all her might.

* Konoha Hospital *

Arashi and Minato flung the doors open and they walked over with Haru still in Minato's hands to the reception desk. Everyone watched the blondes move over to the desk, Arashi saw a clipboard on the desk and quickly snatched it reading the name off, "Takamora." He looked to the receptionist asking, "Was Takamora the one who is healing a little blonde haired boy?"

The receptionist answered, "Y-Yes he is. Umm the girl right there came with him, umm they treat children in the room down that hall over there room 17." She pointed to a hallway that was on the left side of the lobby. Minato and Arashi immediately headed down the hallway toward the room number. Arashi started reading off the numbers on the doors, "14, 15, 16…. 17! Right there!"

They saw the room and Minato reached out for the handle, but froze. Haru climbed out of her father's now loose grip and just saw him stuck looking at the room number, she reached up and touched her father's hand who in turn looked at her, she seemed to give him a sincere look and nodded to him. Minato smiled and placed his hand on the door knob and opened the door.

Inside was Hinata, Takamora, and the other little boy who was called Naruto he had a mask but it was off of his face and around his neck. All three looked at the door and saw their visitors, Takamora and Hinata bowed and politely said, "Good morning Hokage-sama." Minato walked in front of the boy who did look a lot like him and Arashi, he stood directly in front of him and saw that his wounds were all bandaged.

Minato mustered a smile and asked the young boy, "What's your name?" Naruto still held his uninterested look in his eyes and answered truthfully, "My name is Naruto, I don't have a last name." the kage asked next, "How old are you?" Again the boy answered the question given to him, "I turned ten years old last October 10th." Haru said, "Hey that's my birthday, I turned ten as well."

Minato looked at the medic asking, "Did you get a blood sample?" The medic nodded and Minato unraveled his sleeve showing his bare arm, "Take a blood sample from me and send both mine and Naruto's here to get analyzed… You know what I mean too." The medic really did understand so he took out a syringe and took some of his blood and then he took a second syringe that was already filled with blood and left the room. Arashi looked the boy over and saw many similarities and did not think this a hoax or a coincidence that a boy looked so much like his father. He placed a hand on his father's shoulder and said, "I'm going to send a shadow clone to alert mom. She deserves to know." Minato wasn't really listening, but nodded anyway. Arashi summoned up a clone and watched as the clone ran out of the room to go get Kushina.

Naruto was still seated in his chair looking at the man in front of him not saying a word, he wasn't showing any emotion at all nor was he worried or concerned about the whole situation unraveling in front of him. Haru and Hinata walked next to him and pulled two chairs on both sides so they could sit with him. Hinata asked him, "Naruto-kun where are you from?" At this point Hinata was to curious about the boy and she didn't even notice that she didn't stutter at all in that sentence.

Naruto looked at Hinata and he looked straight into her eyes and said, "My home was in Moon country, but we haven't been there since ninjas from this village went over there." Minato and Arashi were both simply flabbergasted that he talked about that since Arashi went on the mission to capture Kakuzu in Moon country two years ago. Naruto continued by saying, "Since then we've been sleeping in forests."

Haru poked his arm and asked, "Did you live with anyone else? Because I remember you said that you had a dad before you said that you lost track of him." Minato now was confused that Naruto would refer to Kakuzu as father, but then thought that since Naruto was possibly only around Kakuzu then it was natural that the boy would refer to him in someway.

Arashi grabbed a scroll from his ninja pouch and unsealed it's content which was the picture of Kakuzu that was made two years ago, he held it up to Naruto and asked, "Is this who you traveled with?" Naruto looked at the picture and immediately nodded, "Yeah that's tou-san, but when we did missions his name was 'Ragdoll' or he'd use his real name 'Kakuzu'." There was not a doubt in both men's mind that this was without a doubt Naruto Namikaze, but it seems ten years with the criminal has made Naruto emotionless and that he has taken to calling Kakuzu as his father figure, something Minato feared. Minato kneeled down in front of Naruto and said, "Listen Naruto-kun… Ten years ago my son was kidnapped when he was a newborn, now Kakuzu got ahold of you and we got word from a now extinct village that they were offered money to kidnap him, but Kakuzu killed both of them and took their money."

Naruto cut in saying, "That sounds like him." Minato continued, "But we don't know who he was taking him too, but me, my wife, Arashi here, and even Haru the girl sitting next to you believed that he was alive and well somewhere and we did everything in our power to find him and bring him home. However it seems that he came home on his own." Naruto remained silent for a moment and he said simply, "You think…. no wait, you know that I am your son is what your saying."

Minato nodded and pulled Naruto in for a hug and the boy didn't refuse. Naruto was still seated and just let the man hug him and Naruto could hear slight sobbing sounds coming from him, Naruto then said, "I don't understand… Ninjas never show emotions and I always thought even a kage was above that." Arashi told Naruto, "That is true Naruto, but ninjas are just as human as the civilians, daimyos, soldiers, and the rich. We are not emotionless 24/7."

Naruto was able to see the man since he was glancing over Minato's right shoulder. Minato broke his hug from his son when the door flung open revealing Kushina who came back alone, Arashi at that moment gained his clone's memories and saw that the clone also found Ibiki who was on his way to the room so it disappeared. Kushina was panting heavily and her eyes were glued to the boy sitting between Haru and Hinata. She walked over to Naruto and Minato moved out of the way so she was kneeling in front of him.

The little blonde haired, blue eyed boy that she only caught a glimpse of ten years ago was sitting right in front of her now, without warning she pulled the boy off his chair and into her arms hugging him and crying profusely. Hinata and Haru were shedding a little tears as well watching how Kushina brought her right hand up to her son's head and started to stroke his long blonde hair. Naruto remained in her arms and asked, "Who are you?"

It stung, it stung a lot to Kushina to hear those words from a son she hasn't seen in ten years, but forced herself to remember that he was kidnapped and that he wouldn't know of any of them. Kushina broke from her hug looking him in his eyes that immediately reminded her of her husband, oldest son, and daughter, "Minato-kun, this is him, this is our son. A mother knows these things." Naruto's eyes were remained on hers as he said, "Your my mother?" Kushina nodded and he said, "I have a pretty mother." Kushina again pulled the boy into a hug happy to hear that. After awhile Ibiki came into the room with a few ANBU and he saw the scene before him. Minato walked over to Ibiki and had him meet him outside the room.

Minato closed the door and told him, "We are waiting for the test results to see if he has a blood match with me, but I want you to take him and ask him a few questions and get Inoichi involved. It's not that I don't trust him, it's that I DON'T trust Kakuzu." Ibiki nodded agreeing and said, "I'll make sure to do a full check and I'll have Inoichi do a complete search of his mind. You have my word." Minato thanked him and moved out of the way. Ibiki walked into the room alone and saw that Kushina was still hugging him and he asked, "Kushina-sama, I'm sorry but we need to borrow him and ask him a few questions about his captor." Kushina only held him tighter not wanting to let him go. Minato came back in and said, "Kushina please. Naruto will be coming back home, that's a promise."

Naruto felt her grip loosen and she moved back enough to see his face. Kushina leaned forward and gave him a kiss on his forehead and said, "I'll see you soon." Naruto looked to Haru and said, "Thank you for bringing me to the hospital… sister." Haru blushed and started rubbing the back of her head out of embarrassment. Naruto turned and looked at Hinata who was already blushing and said, "Thank you for keeping me company… Beautiful angel." At that moment Hinata's face turned so red that made the original color look pink and she fainted in her seat, Kushina caught her and thought, 'Yeah he's Minato's son alright." Ibiki walked over to Naruto and held out his hand, Naruto looked at his hand and took it without question and left the room with him. Arashi walked out of the room as well telling his father, "I need to watch over this." Minato agreed and watched both his sons leave with Ibiki and the ANBU.

Minato leaned into the doorway and told Kushina and his daughter, "Come on let's go home and don't worry Kushina I will alert you when Ibiki is done and when 'you' can pick him up." Kushina walked up to him and kissed hims square on the lips and Haru said, "Ewwwww! I don't wanna see my parents kiss!" She walked over to Hinata and picked up Hinata carrying her on her back. Kushina broke the kiss from her husband and looked to Haru who was carrying Hinata like a backpack and said, "Come on Hinata can sleep at the mansion." Haru agreed and passed up her father and stopped, she looked at him with an evil grin and said, "Oh kaa-san! Tou-san would like to ask you something about my punishment!"

Kushina stopped and looked at Minato who was now sweating bullets. Haru began to snicker thinking, 'This is gonna be fun. I bet he thought I forgot all about that.' Minato stood there and thought, 'Yup this is an evil child.'

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Okay now that I got that chapter done I will remind you that I will be gone this weekend and I will have no writing done this weekend so I'm gonna shoot for writing over the next week, so wish me a fun trip and I will upload next week... not sure when though. But in the next chapter a few questions might be revealed and some interesting things as well regarding what will happen if Inoichi goes in Naruto's mind and how Naruto will fit in with society. So until then my friends 'Stay Gold'.


	9. Underneath the Skin

Chapter Nine: Underneath the Skin

Yeah new chapter! But no Lyoto Machida lost to Shogun Rua , oh well I liked both fighters, but I wanted Machida to win. Well I do hope I haven't kept you all waiting to long for this chapter.

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* 20 mins Later: ANBU Headquarters: Interrogation Wing *

After twenty minutes of interrogation Naruto was still sitting in a chair in a very dimly lit room, ANBU ninjas were standing along the small four walled room. Sitting in front of Naruto was Ibiki, Arashi, and Inoichi talking to Naruto about his life with Kakuzu. Ibiki was sitting in-between the two other clan members asking Naruto, "Now is there any reason why you and Kakuzu split up?" Naruto kept his unemotional face and answered, "No I don't know why. It's as if I just woke up and he was gone, one minute he was there and the next he was gone."

Inoichi looked over to a male ANBU ninja who had long dark brown hair. The ninja simply nodded and Inoichi looked back at Naruto. Ibiki scratched the top of his head then asked, "Why come to Konoha? Why not go out and try and find him, I mean after all from what you've told us he is your father figure, so why not try and find him?"

Naruto drifted his eyes from side to side thinking of a reason and said, "I dunno why he left whatever is happening he obviously knows what he's doing and why come to Konoha? Well as far back as I can remember dad told me to steer clear of Konoha and it's inhabitants. I was never sure why, but I felt something calling out and telling me to come here. Along the way I fought a lot of animals and was very tiered and hungry." Again Inoichi looked at the same ANBU and saw him nod again.

Ibiki leaned back in his chair and said, "So there is absolutely nothing you can tell us about Kakuzu? Not where his other hideouts are, the banks he uses, the contacts he goes to meet?" Naruto shook his head, "I'm sorry I don't know. Before he would take me to meet them, but I guess a few were getting suspicious so he would have me wait outside the contact's area or in a forest." The ANBU walked over to Inoichi and whispered, "Sir he's been telling nothing but the truth. As you've said I've kept my byakugan on him the entire time and I saw no fluctuations."

Inoichi nodded and then stood up telling Naruto, "Naruto-kun, my name is Inoichi the clan head of the Yamanaka clan. Now my clan specializes in the ability to look inside the minds of others. So I will look into your mind to see for myself if you might have missed something your telling us."

Naruto understands what he means, "Okay, so you'll look into me. I have no problem with that." Inoichi looks on the other side of Ibiki and sees that Arashi was silent wanting to take this all in. The clan head tells the ANBU, "Take Naruto to the room we set up for this." Two ANBU ninjas nod and they walk over to Naruto and politely guide him out of the room. Ibiki stands up from his seat asking Arashi, "What do you think?"

Arashi shifted in his seat, "I dunno. Maybe he is hiding something or he's afraid to tell us something and how he said that Kakuzu knows what he's doing? Could it be that there is something in Konoha that he wants and he's using Naruto to get it?" Inoichi said, "That is true. We can't say that Naruto's return is of pure intentions as yet."

Ibiki told the ANBU to leave and he told Inoichi and Arashi, "There is also the fact that this guy is very skilled, he knew he was being followed by our ninjas and he had a trap set up just for us. If also what Naruto said during our investigation is true then this guy took down the 'Hoshikage' with little to no help apparently, so it stands that Kakuzu might take Naruto back at some point." Arashi told him, "Agreed, I'll just have to watch Naruto's movements carefully." Inoichi headed out of the room saying, "I'll report what I see."

Arashi gets out of his chair as well saying to Ibiki, "Well let's go."

* Second Interrogation Room: Yamanaka Room *

This room was specially modified for the Yamanaka clan to allow them easy access into the minds of others for interrogation or to find out what the enemy is hiding by entering their thoughts. Naruto was seated in the center of the room with many different writings on his body and one written behind his neck for 'Enter'. Inoichi was standing behind Naruto with his hand on the top of Naruto's head, "Okay Naruto I'm going to have a look inside your mind. Be aware that you will not be able to move while I'm in your mind as a safety procedure that neither you nor myself be harmed during this part of the investigation. Okay?"

Naruto can only nod at this point and closes his eyes. Arashi, Ibiki and the ANBU were in a circle around the two with five ANBU sitting holding their hands out with the same kanji written on them, but the 'Enter' kanji was on their right hands, the five had their hands aimed at Naruto.

Inoichi started and he closed his eyes and easily entered Naruto's mind. Inoichi's tactic of entering peoples minds was far above his family members, he could enter by himself with out the use of the ritual, but since time was of the essence he needed to be able to unlock every inch of Naruto's mind in one good swoop. Two minutes went by and Inoichi's eyes shot open.

He took his hand off of Naruto's head and said in a semi-cold tone, "Take Naruto to one of the rooms and make sure you watch over him." The ANBU agreed and they picked up the unconscious Namikaze and took him to a room. Arashi watched them leave with Naruto and he asked Inoichi, "What happened? What did you see?" Inoichi took a few good breaths and he told Arashi, "Go get your mother and father, they will want to hear this, hurry please."

Arashi did as he was told and ran out of the room to go get his parents. Ibiki walked over to Inoichi and helped him sit down asking, "Was it bad?" Inoichi took one last good breath and answered, "Yes it was."

* Ten Minutes Later *

Minato, Arashi, and Kushina entered the ANBU building leaving them worried about what could be wrong. Kushina had asked Hiashi if Haru could stay with them until they returned, Hiashi simply told them he would and that he would await their return. The three Namikazes walked through the building and they found Inoichi and Ibiki in a room where there was a large one-way mirror that allowed them to see Naruto sleeping in his room, but he couldn't see them. The Hokage asked Inoichi, "Arashi told me that something got you serious, so what was it?"

The Yamanaka was watching Naruto sleep on his bed and then looked to Minato and Kushina saying, "I was able to infiltrate Naruto's mind with extreme ease, what he was telling was the truth every single part." Minato, Kushina, and Arashi breathed out a sigh of relief.

Inoichi continued, "But, Naruto's mind has pretty much over two years gap missing inside his mind." Everyone looked a little shocked at the news, "What I mean to say is that Naruto knows he's ten because parts of his mind reminds him when Kakuzu told him he was born therefore he knows how old he is by knowing what year it is, but from when he was eight till about a month ago there is nothing. It's as if someone purposely erased two years of his memories."

Minato was now worried and he asked him, "What was the last thing he saw before the two years of lost memories?"

Inoichi simply told him, "Naruto remembers training in the mountains to learn his wind element, but after that it seems like he blacks out and then wakes up to see Kakuzu telling Naruto that he had to leave. They go to the Land of Shadows and then his mind blacks out again and he wakes up alone in the woods two years later. There are also patches in those two years of his training and other less than helpful memories, but I don't see Kakuzu in them." Kushina looked through the mirror and watches her son sleep, but manages to ask, "What does it mean? Did Kakuzu erase those two years and why during that time?"

Inoichi answered it, "Let me rephrase what I said, the two year gap was missing from his mind, but it's locked away deeper inside his mind."

Ibiki was confused and asked, "Then why didn't you look there?" Inoichi looked depressed at this point and he looked to Minato saying, "Naruto's memories of those two years are locked inside his head, if I unlock it then we have the two year gap."

The blonde kage brought his hand to his face covering saying, "But there is a problem isn't there?"

Inoichi knew the Hokage caught on once he said that, "Yes Hokage-sama there is a 'but', you see whoever locked his memories away placed three safety precautions to keep his memories locked away."

Inoichi pointed to one part on his head, "Whoever it was placed one of three trigger traps to go off in Naruto's mind. The one located here is attached to his 'short term' memory. If I unlock the two year memory lock then this one will affect Naruto's ability to convert short term memory into long term memory, meaning that his mind will reset every single day and he won't know anyone afterwards."

He moved his finger to another spot on his brain, "The second is here where if I unlock the the seal inside his mind and this one goes off then it will wipe Naruto's mind completely clean and the resulting shock of missing memories will kill him and we will lose all of his memories including the two year gap."

Everyone was practically sick to their stomachs that someone would do this. Inoichi got their attention again when he moved his finger to the base where his spine and brain meet, "The final one is here, the last place and the most devastating in my opinion. The third and final is located where his motor functions are, if I activate the lock seal, then this one goes off, we will have complete access to Naruto's memories, but Naruto will lose all motor functions in his body from the neck down and it might even leave him brain dead."

Minato looked to his wife and he could hear the sobs coming from her, he then kneeled down and held her asking Inoichi, "Can you remove the traps?"

Inoichi shook his head, "No. Whoever did this set the traps that if one is tampered with then it will activate the two other traps. An example would be if I went for the one that wipes his mind clean, if I try and disarm it then it will trigger the one at the base of his mind and the other where his short term memory is located. This will happen if I try and disarm the other ones as well, so no matter what I do I can't mess with that lock or the traps without doing extreme harm to his mind and body. The one who did this wanted to be sure that those two years are locked away and are possibly only accessible to the one who set it up. Regardless if we want those memories then it will cost Naruto's life as a ninja."

Arashi told Inoichi, "Then I guess we leave it at that." Minato had already agreed to that and he told Inoichi, "We won't do a damn thing. Naruto doesn't deserve the consequences of this."

Kushina asked with hope, "Inoichi-san, is there anyway that two or three more Yamanakas can help you disable all the traps and the lock?" Inoichi had already thought about it and said, "No, my other clansmen can enter minds, but some are inexperienced at disabling traps since there are few ninjas that can set them up effectively inside someone's mind and we'd need to do it simultaneously. The chances of this working is a one out of five chance of success and I highly recommend that with those odds and the consequences behind it that you do not take it."

Minato told Ibiki and Inoichi, "Thank you both for all your help. Ibiki can you bring Naruto to us, we're taking him home." Ibiki did as he was told and he left the room to go fetch Naruto. Inoichi looked back at the Hokage asking, "Ibiki told me that you were doing a test on his blood, did the results come back yet?"

Minato smiled and told him, "Yeah, the results were sent to my office. Since Kushina is a blood donor at the hospital they took some of her blood as well and it came back that Naruto is without a doubt our son."

Inoichi smiled and told them congratulations. Ibiki returned a short while later carrying Naruto, Kushina immediately walked over to Ibiki and took Naruto from him carrying him. Minato and Arashi smiled and they bid goodbye to Ibiki and Inoichi and they left heading to get Haru from the Hyuuga compound and to head back home.

* Hokage Mansion *

Arashi went to get Haru and had made it back home after his parents. Haru ran through the house to find Naruto, she ran into the living room and saw her mother sitting on the couch still holding Naruto smiling. The little blonde girl walked over to her mother and Kushina held her hand out for her daughter to join, Haru climbed on the couch and laid down as well.

Arashi told his mother, "Inoichi said that Naruto-kun might be out for a few hours since this was his first time his mind was under that much stress, so he'll sleep good tonight." Minato came back in the room wearing just his blue ninja jumpsuit looking at how happy his lover was to have her child back. Both Arashi and Minato took a seat on the couches in the living room to relax.

Arashi however asked his dad, "What will we tell the village and the council?" Minato explained how this would happen, "I called for a meeting to be scheduled for tomorrow and I will tell them then. Naruto will be enrolled in the academy, but first I want me and you to test out his abilities to see how far along he is."

Haru overheard the conversation and asked in a kind of tired voice, "So Naruto-nii will be going to the academy with me?" Haru was smiling and was very happy to hear that her twin would be going with her to school from now on. Kushina kissed Haru on the top of her head saying, "Yes, Naru-kun will go to school with you." Minato even added, "I'll see if I can get Naruto in the same class as you if you want Haru-chan."

Haru immediately lit up, "I'd like that tou-san." The oldest child said, "I can get started on testing out Naruto's abilities after he rests and gets a good meal."

Haru asked her older brother, "What about me?" Arashi walked over to Haru and patted the top of her head, "Of course I need your help as well." Kushina looked to her husband asking him, "Your not going back to the office?"

He shook his head, "No I plan on staying home the rest of the day." Kushina looked at Naruto and then back to her husband saying, "Take him. He is your son after all." Minato got up from the couch he was sitting on and walked over to his wife gently picking Naruto up and said, "He's a little heavy, I'll take him to the hospital tomorrow so we can get him registered there."

Kushina nodded and Minato turned and took Naruto to his room. Minato opened the room to Naruto's room and laid him down in his bed to let him sleep, he didn't leave right away he stood at his son's bedside happy that he was able to see him. Though the thought of him living a life like that wasn't one that made him happy. He rubbed his son's hair then left to let him sleep.

Naruto laid peacefully on his bed, but something started happening. Underneath Naruto's covers the right side of his body began to move in an irregular fashion from under his skin, suddenly a face was forming around his shoulder, the face was completely visible, "My, my that was an ordeal. I can't believe that I wasn't detected, then again this boy's chakra levels hid me completely."

The face moved more off of Naruto becoming a second body, but this body only had a left half of a face and a left arm and was pitch white, it was Zetsu's white half, "Time to report in." Zetsu opened his mouth and coming out of his mouth was another white Zetsu half that was only a left half of a head and torso. Zetsu told the creature, "Go report now." The second Zetsu opened the window of Naruto's room and fell to the ground, but once it touched the dirt it sunk into it disappearing entirely. The half that was attached to Naruto sunk back into his skin leaving the illusion that Naruto was okay.

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* Akatsuki Hideout *

Zetsu was standing inside a hideout with both halves of it's body visible, he looked to his left and saw a white half of himself emerge out of the ground. Zetsu walked over to it and he grabbed it by it's throat and started to eat it, once Zetsu devoured it he said, "Infiltration was a success in Konoha it seems." He walked off deeper into the base and he came across Kakuzu was speaking with Sasori. The two S-Classed criminals saw Zetsu and Kakuzu asked him, "Well?"

Zetsu smiled, "They don't even know about the clone I have inside of Naruto's body and it would seem that I was able to keep my DNA out of his blood stream so more good news. Things are going smoothly, the interrogated him and he passed, but they still think something is amiss though."

Sasori told his companions, "Don't worry, like most villages their defenses of one person lessens over time. Just be careful Zetsu that your clones are not discovered because if they are then this whole plan goes out the window."

Zetsu joked saying, "I'm hurt that you'd think that Sasori-san, I have yet to be discovered even by a sensor type ninja, they might sense something is wrong with Naruto, but they will not suspect that someone else is living with Naruto." Kakuzu held out a small vile that had a drop of Hero's Water in it, "Zetsu, since your clones are a part of Naruto and you can separate parts of your anatomy from his I want your clone to ingest this and merge back with Naruto and separate with it giving it to his body."

Zetsu took the vile and from under his left cloak sleeve a piece of his body seemed to fall off and it took the form of Zetsu's white half which was another clone.

Zetsu handed the vile to the clone and it ate the vile then merged back into the ground. Zetsu told them, "No worries, my clone will get it done." Zetsu left the room afterward. Sasori looked at Kakuzu asking, "You think that kid will make it to three years?"

Kakuzu shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows, hopefully if what Pain-sama said is true, then I have nothing to worry about. Whether or not Naruto decides to come back or not doesn't matter to me." He walked off but stopped halfway and said, "Besides, if he stays in Konoha he will seek me out."

Sasori asked him, "Why would he do that?" Kakuzu remained silent for a moment then answered, "His one wish and goal in life… is to kill me." Sasori let out a small chuckle of amusement. Kakuzu left, but Sasori heard, "That is the day I'd gladly wait for."

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* Konoha: Naruto's Room *

Naruto was still asleep in his room and Zetsu again sprouted from Naruto's shoulder, but it completely separated from him, he hung it's head out the window and saw the clone come out of the ground. Zetsu looked around and saw no ninjas were nearby nor did he hear anyone coming from the other side of Naruto's door, he then held his hand out and it extended.

The clone reached out and grabbed that hand merging with it, Zetsu retracted his arm and gained the memories from it. He opened his mouth and pulled out the vile with the Hero's Water, he grew a second leg allowing him to walk and he went to Naruto's bathroom and turned on the faucet. He unscrewed the cap to the vile and let the drop fall into his mouth and he took some water from the faucet into his body as well.

He went back to Naruto and merged back into his body saying, "Those fools didn't even take the time to really look underneath it all." After he completely bonded with Naruto he began moving around his DNA from Naruto's and giving him the mixture of water and Hero's Water into his body allowing him to get the benefit of it.

* A Few Hours Later *

Naruto slowly awoke and realized that he was no longer in the ANBU headquarters, the place was to bright and it looked like a child's room. He got out of the bed he was laying in and looked around, he walked over to the dresser and opened the drawer and found no clothes at all, he walked over to the toy chest next and found a few toys, Naruto never had toys and never played with any and he wasn't going to start now. After looking around for a moment he walked to the door and opened it and noticed a plaque on the door that had his name on it.

Naruto looked back in the room and said to himself, "This is my room?" He walked out and closed the door and walked downstairs and wandered into the first room which was the kitchen and standing at the stove cooking was his mother.

Kushina was cooking some curry and rice for dinner, also in the kitchen was Minato who was sitting down at the table filling out some documents. Naruto made his presence known by clearing his throat catching both of his parent's attention. Kushina and Minato both noticed Naruto and he saw his father walk over to him asking, "Hey Naruto-kun. Sleep well?" Naruto nodded and asked, "Where are we?"

Minato answered, "We are in the Hokage mansion, our home." Naruto looked around the very large kitchen and was impressed, but he didn't show it. Kushina put the curry on to simmer for a moment and walked over to Naruto and asked him, "Naruto-kun what's your favorite foods?"

The little blonde thought about it and he said, "I like ramen, oni giri, and red bean soup." Kushina smiled that he liked ramen. Minato told Naruto, "Your siblings are in the kage training ground. Just go down that hall and it's the door with the sign above it." Naruto nodded and walked away looking for the kage training ground. He saw the big two doors and pushed them open, he noticed that right when you enter your standing in a patio area for people to watch and he saw that the training ground was a huge area. He walked out of the patio area and he saw Haru being trained by Arashi.

Naruto watched with interest as Haru was utilizing taijutsu and the use of multiple weapons, but Arashi however was dodging all of her attacks with ease. Every punch she threw he would slap her hand away and every kick she tossed at him was stopped when he would catch her foot mid swing and toss her away. The two didn't seem to notice him at that moment so he just remained silent and watched. Arashi was reading a book while fighting off his sister with ease even though his eyes were not looking at her at all.

Haru became a little more irked that she was being toyed with so easily. Haru pulled out a kunai and held it in her right hand, but she slammed her left hand on the ground and began to spin on it, despite spinning quickly she picked up a second kunai, however she grabbed it not with her hands but in between her toes and tossed it quickly at Arashi.

Her eldest brother smirked and brought one hand up and he stuck his index finger through the loop of the kunai and remained reading his book. Haru spun off of her hand and launched herself in the air and tossed the kunai in her hand at her brother's book and again the blonde jounin caught that kunai through the loop with his middle finger this time.

He closed his book and said, "Okay we are done for today." Arashi called out. Haru fell back on her butt and tried to take in some good breaths since they have been training for a few hours now. Arashi put his book back in his pack and then looked over to the house and saw Naruto sitting on the edge of the patio quietly watching them.

Haru looked at the house to and saw Naruto and her face lit up asking, "Hey Naru-nii did you enjoy the show?" Naruto kept silent at first, but answered, "I was interested in how you use every part of your body to utilize a weapon." Arashi asked Naruto, "Would you like to have a go at me too?" Naruto shook his head, "Sorry, but no. I'm not at full strength right now, I'm still a little drowsy."

Haru got up from her seated position and ran over to Naruto asking him, "Do you know any cool jutsu?" Naruto examined the girl who is his sister and found many facial similarities between them except for the whisker marks on her cheeks. Naruto drifted his eyes from side to side and said, "I know enough, but I don't really know any genjutsu, but I know one however I wouldn't use it again." Arashi and Haru smiled and the little blonde girl told him, "Nothing to worry about. Dad knows some genjutsu, but mom, Arashi-aniki, and myself doesn't know a single one." Arashi rubbed the back of his head saying, "Trust us Naruto-kun it's a learning disability for us."

Naruto asked them, "Is there a library here?" Arashi walked closer to Naruto asking, "You like to read?" Naruto only nodded. Arashi told him, "Yeah come on let's go." Arashi and Haru took their sandals off and placed them off to the side and walked onto the patio and Naruto followed them. Naruto followed a bit close behind them thinkin, 'Why do they accept me so easily? Even though I'm their missing family member they accepted me with smiles, sadness, friendship, and…. a warm hug….'

Naruto stopped at that moment and tried to make sense of it all. He had been in this village for a day and already a flood of new feelings came over him, but he swore that they wouldn't get in the way of all his training from when he was real little. He hoped there was some books about these foreign emotions in the Hokage's library.

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Okay that chapter is done with and I'm pleased to say that my trip was fun, but work was a bitch the past few days. I hope you all had an awesome weekend like me and I will upload the next chapter to this story when I get the chance.


	10. Naruto's Civilianship

Chapter Ten: Naruto's Civilianship

Okay it seems that we have a debate on the matter of whether Naruto should stay in Konoha or should he go to Akatsuki. Either way I have a plan that will work which ever side he goes to, so I'll leave it to you the fans to decide who Naruto should go with. Also please do not be afraid to ask questions if you don't understand a few parts and I will answer it to my best without revealing to much of the future outcome of the story.

I'd like to address my thanks for everyone who accepts Naruto's Sai-ish characteristic. The only real noticeable difference that I tried to make is that unlike Sai, Naruto will not fake smile at all, he will continually keep up his unemotional, unreadable face until further notice.

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* Next Day: Hokage Mansion *

On the patio facing the Hokage training field sat Kushina, Haru, and Arashi Namikaze along with Hinata and Hiashi Hyuuga. The six were sitting down watching Naruto give it his all against his father.

Naruto was allowed to use any tactic needed to try and kill Minato. The older blonde had no trouble dodging and avoiding all of Naruto's attempts and he half expected Naruto to get like Haru, annoyed and upset thus clouding rational thought making her attack blindly. How surprised he was when Naruto didn't lose his cool, but instead kept adapting to how Minato fought and kept coming.

Minato was only using his right arm to fight and kept his left hand behind him. Naruto picked up a bo staff and tried to hit Minato in his head, but the veteran ninja grabbed the staff before it could hit him. The smaller younger blonde used his left hand to reach into his pocket and pull out a smoke bomb and successfully threw it on the ground. Minato felt Naruto pull back on the bo staff so he initially let go.

The forth Hokage simply closed his eyes and listened. He heard a swinging sound and instincts took over as he grabbed the bo staff that was aimed for his right side, so he pulled on the staff thinking he pulled Naruto toward him, but instead he felt that it was extremely light and he opened his eyes and could see light fluctuating from the staff and immediately said, "Touché." An explosion rocked the area and the smoke caused by the smoke bomb was blown away and everyone saw Naruto standing a distance away from the explosion with his usual emotionless expression.

Minato appeared behind the little blonde who wasn't aware of his presence. Naruto saw in the wreckage of the explosion a burnt up log instead of his father. Minato immediately tapped Naruto on the top of his head and as soon as he did that Naruto tried to backhand him, but Minato caught him by the wrist and twisted Naruto's arm behind his back leaving him at the Hokage's mercy. Minato proceeded to slam Naruto on his stomach pinning him by putting his knee to the back of Naruto's neck restricting his movements entirely.

Kushina called out, "And that's match." Minato smiled and picked Naruto off the ground and dusted his son off asking, "Sorry Naruto-kun are you okay?" Naruto watched as his dad dusted him off and he answered him, "I'm okay. I didn't even notice that you used a substitution jutsu."

Minato was kneeling in front of him smiling, "Well son you'll get better as time goes on. After all this was just a test to see where you stand in your classes, but I want your first year to be with you sister so you can get the hang of being around other ninjas your age and maybe next year I'll place you in a more advanced class." Haru was stunned at her twin's abilities and how strong he was for being a ten year old. She guessed that if he really was going to be in her class, then he would be number one easily. No one in her class was that strong and that tactical.

When both Naruto and Minato met up with everyone on the patio Arashi asked his dad, "So where does Naruto stand in his ninja skills?" Hiashi butted in saying, "From what I've seen this boy is strong enough to be a gennin already. After all Arashi here made chunnin at the age of ten."

Minato looked from Hiashi to Naruto asking him, "How about it Naruto you wanna get promoted to gennin and maybe a chunnin at the end of the year?" Naruto looked at his father and immediately said, "No. I'd rather start at the bottom and work my way to the top the right way. No exceptions for me just because I'm the son of Minato Namikaze, besides I want to see what school life is really like." Naruto told him and everyone else in his usual emotionless tone.

Kushina, Minato, and Arashi were happy with his decision since most would jump at that opportunity and he wanted to go down the more difficult path rather than take the easy steps to the top. Hiashi thought that he answered to quickly, but it was his decision and he had to live with it. Hinata on the other hand thought he was cool at that moment and Haru had those same thoughts.

Minato clapped his hands once saying, "It's settled then. Naruto will join Haru and Hinata-chan's class this year and I'll figure out the rest as time goes on." Kushina asked her husband, "Aren't you taking Naruto to the hospital to get him fully checked out?"

Minato rubbed the back of his head saying, "Oh yeah I nearly forgot." Minato looked over to his daughter and Hinata asking, "Would you two want to come along with us?" Haru nodded her head and Hinata looked to her father asking if it was okay. Hiashi allowed her to go since he was about to leave himself. Minato asked his oldest son, "You want to come along as well?"

Arashi shook his head, "No, sorry I got plans later so I should get ready soon." Minato and Kushina both knew that he had plans with someone. Minato said to him, "Well okay, so it'll just be the rest of us here." Hiashi got up and bowed to his friends properly and took his leave not before telling Hinata to behave herself. Arashi said that he would lock up the mansion after he left, so Minato, Kushina, Naruto, Haru, and Hinata left the mansion to the hospital.

* Konoha Hospital *

Not many knew that Naruto returned to the village except for the elders, the clan heads, the guys at ANBU, and those with common sense who could connect it together. The ones who knew were skeptical about the kage's son sudden return after ten years, but Ibiki and Inoichi vouched for the boy saying that they found no deception in his words and that he wasn't at fault for whoever placed the mind seals in his head, as far as they knew. A vote came down to watch Naruto's movements for any suspicion of turning traitor or to his true motives.

The group were sitting inside a med-nin's office, Naruto was the only one sitting on a hospital bed while the doctor checked him. The doctor was a female med-nin, she was wearing the usual med getup which was a white jacket with Konoha's medic seal on the back in red and white pants. She had teal blue hair color, black eyes, and a lightly tanned skin color.

She was writing a few things down on her clipboard before reading everything off to Minato, "Well Hokage-sama, he's blood work came back. No kind of diseases detected and we found as you probably already know that he is B blood type. His lungs and other organs are healthy as well and his skin is very healthy as well, his height and weight is of the average ten year olds now a days. All in all there is absolutely nothing wrong with him."

Kushina was happy with his results and looked at how her son was looking at the bandages he still had on after his encounters with wild animals to get all the way to Konoha. She was then saddened knowing that both her youngest children have it rough, Haru has a dangerous demon sealed inside her and Naruto was living like a criminal along with a dangerous criminal of untold potential. She however dropped her frown quickly and thought about what her husband told her, 'The more hardships you go through only make you stronger in the future. It's the people around you that help guide you to that future.'

The doctor told Naruto that he could start academy life whenever he felt he was ready. After all was said and done, she told Minato that she'll send all the information through Konoha's medical files and that all that was needed was for him to register him as a ninja. For Minato that was the easy part when your the Hokage. Minato told Kushina to take the kids out and to get Naruto some clothes since the ones he had on were hand me downs from Arashi.

Kushina agreed and took Naruto, Hinata, and Haru out of the hospital and to one of the ninja shops and Minato went straight to his office to finish up filing away Naruto's personal file so that he would officially be a civilian of Konoha.

* Shinoda Kengeki Ninja Shop *

Kushina and the kids walked into this well known ninja shop that had everything for ninjas. The owner of the shop was named Kensei Shinoda, a middle aged man wearing a white chinese style outfit, with black shoes. He had long black braided hair, a goatee, and brown colored eyes. Kensei was known as a kenjutsu master in his youthful days before he retired early when his daughter was born.

Kensei's wife Jia Li Shinoda was a seamstress who could make the best ninja outfits for anyone, but her looks can be deceiving. She had long brown hair that was tied into two chinese style buns, brown eyes, she was a few years younger than her husband, and cream colored skin. She wears a pink qipao outfit with floral designs on it, and knee high white stockings. She looked like a model, but in actuality she was a martial artist that studied Chinese Kempo and like her husband she retired fairly young to run the shop and take care of their daughter.

Kensei was at the counter polishing a few weapons and his wife was roaming around the fairly large store restocking the shelves. Jia Li saw her customers and called out, "Oh good morning Lady Namikaze." she greeted with a smile. Kushina greeted her back, "Good morning to you too Kensei-san, Jia Li-chan."

The weapon shop owner put the weapons off to the side of the counter leaning over it asking, "So what brings you here?" Kushina called the kids in, "Kids come in." Naruto, Hinata, and Haru came inside looking around at the store. Kushina told them, "Now don't touch anything in this shop, Kensei-san makes sure that all his weapons are sharp."

The kids obeyed and stayed close. Kushina asked Jia Li, "Jia Li-chan I was wondering if you could make a few custom outfits for my son here." Kushina took Naruto's hand and brought him a little foreword for her to see. Jia Li and Kensei already knew who Naruto was, since Kensei is asked to come to civilian/ninja council meetings and was told about Naruto's return and he told only his wife.

Jia Li smiled and walked over to Naruto pulling out measuring tape that was wrapped around her wrist and began taking measurements of Naruto's entire height, arm lengths, legs outside and inside, etc… After she got done with measuring Naruto she asked Kushina, "So Lady Namikaze anything special you want done?" Kushina brought her finger to her chin thinking, "Maybe three outfits of a normal ninja long-sleeve shirts and pants in black, blue, and maybe a faded black color. Six shorts in the same colors, six more ninja pants in the same colors as well, and twelve regular shirts and long-sleeve shirts to match the shorts and pants, two pairs of pajama outfits, and finally a nice kimono for special occasions."

Naruto was a little stunned, all his life he only had three sets of clothes and that was all he really needed, but here he was and his mother was ordering custom made clothes in large orders. Hinata and Haru thought that those wouldn't be enough, since they lived wealthy they had a lot of clothes in their closets. He thought the woman would be overwhelmed, but she merely said. "That's all. Your not going easy on me are you Lady Namikaze?" said Jia Li with a smile followed by a chuckle.

The Namikaze shook her head giggling, "Trust me that's all he'll need for now. We still need to get him some sandals, socks, and some other everyday clothes from the other shops. Tell me how long will this be done?" Kensei told her, "Don't worry Lady Namikaze, since it's my wife making them they'll be done soon enough and I'll even deliver them to your home once they're done."

Kushina thanked them and said that she would have the money ready when they drop off the clothes. Jia Li walked into the back of the shop to get started, but a little girl about eleven years old ran out passing Jia Li up and she jumped up on the counter asking, "Papa can you teach me to use a spear now?"

Kensei smiled and picked his daughter up and placed her on the ground saying, "Okay TenTen I'll teach you after I close up shop today." TenTen was the daughter of Kensei and Jia Li, she wanted to be a kenjutsu master like her father using only the weapons he made. Like her mother she had brown hair and eyes and her hair made into a bun, she wears a blue sleeveless blouse and dark green pants.

The little weapon's girl looked and saw Haru and Hinata saying, "Hi there Haru-chan, Hinata-chan!" Both of the girls perked up and walked over to TenTen. Haru told the kenjutsu girl, "Hey TenTen! Guess what? I've been really practicing with different weapons like you."

TenTen said, "That's good, keep up the good work Haru-chan." She looked at Hinata and asked, "How about you Hinata-chan. You getting better with your Jūken practice coming along?" Hinata looked down and told her friend, "Not good."

Sensing her friend was sad Haru put her arm around Hinata's shoulder and said loudly, "Don't worry Hinata-chan, you'll be the strongest kunoichi in your clan by the time the academy years are over and done with!" TenTen added, "Haru's right Hinata, you just have to keep trying." Hinata didn't seem all to convinced over hearing what her friends were saying. TenTen looked up and she saw a boy she's never seen before standing close by Kushina.

She walked over to him and held out her hand saying, "Hello, my name is TenTen Shinoda. What's your name?" Naruto looked at her hand, but didn't shake it only telling her what she wanted to hear, "My name is Naruto Namikaze. It's a pleasure to meet you." TenTen retracted her hand and brought it to her chin saying, "Namikaze? Does that mean-"

Before she could finish her father said to her, "Hey TenTen mind helping out your old man by finishing polishing up these weapons right here." TenTen looked at her father and walked over to the weapons on the counter and took them to the back, but before she disappeared from sight she said, "See you guys at the academy tomorrow kay."

Hinata and Haru both waved goodbye to their friend as she disappeared behind the curtains leading to the back of the shop. Kensei asked Kushina, "Lady Kushina, do you all intend to alert the village of your son's return?" Kushina smiled and looked down at her son who was looking back at her. She kneeled down and hugged him saying, "My husband want's to alert the village soon after he leaves from class tomorrow, but I would much rather screamed it from the roof tops the day I found out he was home."

Kushina broke away from her son and took his hand saying to Kensei, "Well we better get going now. Big day tomorrow. Come on girls." Haru and Hinata looked at the weapon shop owner and bowed to him and followed Kushina and Naruto out of the shop.

* A Few Hours: Around Konoha *

Kushina and the kids were roaming around the village just having a good time, she had got some underwear and a few other things Naruto would need to start at the academy. Haru came to a stop close to a store and saw something that caught her eye, she called her mother over to come look at it too. Hinata and Naruto however were standing in the middle of the walking road watching them. Hinata was blushing a bit since this was the first time she was standing alone with a boy who just yesterday called her a 'beautiful angel'. For her that was the first complement she got like that and she didn't know what to do at the time but to faint. She felt ashamed of herself for that, so she decided to muster up as much courage as she could to talk to him.

She took a deep breath and was about to say something, but Naruto spoke first asking, "Hinata-chan?" Hinata flinched a little and looked at him noticing that he wasn't looking at her, but at his sister and mother who were looking at a few books. Hinata regained her senses and asked, "Umm, y-yes N-Naruto-kun?"

Naruto turned his head slowly looking her dead in the eyes asking, "When we were at the weapon's shop what did that girl TenTen mean about 'Jūken' training?" Hinata lost her blush, but explained, "Well you see my clan have the ability to see people's tenketsu points in the human body and we use a taijutsu style called Jūken to close off those points, but I'm only mediocre at the most." Hinata seemed a little more depressed once she said that.

The blonde boy understood asking, "Can only your family do this?" Hinata shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not sure, being ninjas you can never be too positive that you'd be the only one to know a specific technique." Naruto kept starring at her which made her nervous. He turned to her entirely and said, "You didn't stutter."

Hinata rubbed the back of her head nervously saying, "R-Really?I didn't even notice." Naruto nodded. He turned back to look at his mother and sister who started to walk back over to them. Before they got a good ear distance Naruto said without looking out her, "I like you. I used to be like you… Don't worry you'll get better once you find your drive." Hinata was about to ask what he meant, but didn't get the chance to when Kushina said, "Okay kids it's getting late so I'll take Hinata home and we'll head home and I'll make some home-made ramen."

Haru immediately shot a look at her mother that said, 'Don't toy with me when ramen is concerned'. Kushina chuckled at the look her daughter was giving her, then looked to her youngest son and saw that he had a distinct smirk on his face. Kushina told all of them, "Okay then let's get going."

* Some Time Later: Hokage Mansion *

Kushina was in the kitchen setting up for a early dinner snack for her kids and she would prepare the real meal after her husband's return. Naruto and Haru were in the living room and the two blondes were talking, rather Naruto was asking what school was like and what he should be expecting.

Haru had three kunais in her hand and she was juggling the three dangerous weapons continually catching them by the handles and tossing them in the air again. Naruto was looking at a backpack that sat in front of him with a note attached to it that said,

'Naruto here is everything you'll need for the academy.

-Dad'.

Naruto had already opened it and found some papers, a book on basic ways of a ninja, some pencils, an eraser, and a badge that had the leaf symbol on it, his picture when he was at the hospital, and his information on it. Haru told him that badge was to be kept with you whenever you go to the academy. Both were brought out of the current silence when their mother told them to come eat. Naruto got up and headed for the kitchen and Haru tossed all three kunai high in the air almost touching the ceiling and as the fell she poked both her index fingers and her middle finger in the kunai loops catching them and placing them on the table following her brother to the kitchen.

Naruto and Haru sat at the kitchen table and Kushina placed a bowl in front of both of them saying, "Like you wanted Haru-chan, salt flavored ramen and for you Naruto, miso ramen." She sat down with a bowl of salt ramen as well saying, "It may not be as good as Teuchi-jii's ramen, but I think it's decent enough." Haru immediately forgetting her table manners grabbed her chopsticks shouting, "ITADAKIMASU!" and began eating like she was starved for days.

Naruto grabbed his chopsticks and said politely and almost in a whisper, "Itadakimasu." and unlike his sister he ate politely and slowly. Kushina couldn't help but snicker at the sight before her, on one hand her daughter seemed unrefined and had the manners of a one year old baby getting food all over herself and then her youngest son who was polite and was well mannered.

Naruto and Haru didn't catch their mother's snicker or the smile that graced her face. The three just sat and ate their mid-dinner meal.

* An Hour Later *

Minato walked into the mansion carrying his Hokage hat in his left hand. He went straight for his office. His office was a fairly large office room even bigger than the Hokage's office at the tower. Inside his office was a glass case that had his Hokage robes that he opened up and placed his hat back inside on the torso body of a mannequin.

He went to his desk sat down letting out a sigh of relief that he was finally home, but before he could relax there was still one more thing he needed to do. He bit his thumb and began doing a few handsigns and he slammed his hand on his desk and a small pop of smoke appeared in front of his hand and emerging from the smoke was an oddly shaped toad that was in the shape of a gourd, it was a dark red color with a green rope around it's waist with a cork in it's mouth.

Minato asked the toad, "Any messages?" The toad jumped off of the desk and the cork in it's mouth came out and it spit something out of it's mouth. Coming out of it's mouth was Jiraiya, he stood up after being spat out of the toad's mouth and looked at his student.

Jiraiya spoke to Minato saying, "I'm merely a shadow clone passing on a message from the real Jiraiya." Minato nodded and made a hand motion for the clone to continue. The clone Jiraiya cleared it's throat before speaking, "Jiraiya infiltrated Takigakure after finally finding the village. It turned out harder than initially thought, the previous chief wanted the village to be hidden away from the rest of the world. However he found it and found out that they were aware of Kakuzu's movements for a very long time, but they reported him dead a very long time ago."

Minato leaned back in his chair asking the clone, "Did Jiraiya find out if they knew about Naruto's kidnapping?" The clone nodded, "Yes they were aware of the kidnapping, but they didn't say anything for fear of Kakuzu returning to finish them off. The village is small and for a ninja that Jiraiya was reading about it would be very easy for him to wipe out Takigakure on his own. Not only that they fear him even more once he stole something called the 'Hero's Water'."

The Hokage merely rose his eyebrow asking, "Hero's Water?" The clone nodded answering, "Apparently it holds the power to raise an ordinary gennin's chakra to that of immeasurable power. The down side is that taking a drink from it kills you after you've consumed it, they fear that Kakuzu would come and destroy the village using the Hero's Water."

Minato shook his head telling the clone, "No he wouldn't. He want's to be left alone, if he attacked Takigakure after killing the Hoshikage of Hoshigakure then he'd be under more fire from the other villages. Someone would eventually catch wind of it and put a hit on the Bingo Book on him making his bounty rise. We already put his name down in the Bingo Book for Naruto's kidnapping and the evidence we have that he killed the Hoshikage, that makes his bounty plenty high as it is and right now he might be just trying to lay low until the heat on him dies down."

Jiraiya asked, "While we are on the subject did you alert Hoshigakure of that ninja and his accomplices involvement in their leader's demise?" Minato nodded, "I sent Kakashi and a few other ninjas to alert them. They are being discrete from Kakashi's last message, but two of the elders will come to Konoha to see if our info was true. Before long Akahoshi will fall as the village's chief."

Minato turned and looked at the clone and asked, "Any news on Orochimaru?" The clone shook it's head, "I'm sorry, but I'm not the clone to ask." Minato understood knowing that this clone was summoned some time ago and that it was limited on memories. So he said, "Okay then disperse and have Jiraiya send me another clone."

The clone put it's hands together and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The toad that was still there disappeared as well. Minato took off his coat and hung it up on the coat rack in his office, he looked over at his door to see that his wife walked in. Kushina stopped in front of him with a smile asking him, "Anything special you wanted for dinner?"

Minato brought his hand to his chin in a thinking pose taking a moment before answering, "Let's see, how about beef stew tonight." Kushina walked over and gave him a kiss on his cheek saying, "Done." She walked back out of his office swaying her hips as she left. The young kage watched her leave and then followed after her.

* Some Time Later *

Naruto was now laying down in his room. The young ninja was sleeping soundly after both his parents tucked him in and left him in his room. Naruto's skin began to move once again and Zetsu appeared out of his shoulder once again, the Akatsuki nin looked around the room with a look of annoyance. The man said to himself, "Things have gotten worse than I thought. My movements seem to be more restricted, damn I need a fresh batch from my main body." Zetsu opened his mouth and spat out another half bodied white half.

Zetsu looked at the window and told the clone, "Make this fast or else I'll degenerate faster. I need a new batch of cells from our main body understand?" The clone nods and it hops over to the window and opens it and jumps down to the ground. Once it's feet touch the ground it begins to merge with the ground heading to it's main body.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Akatsuki Hideout *

Zetsu was inside the Akatsuki base wiping a red substance off of his face with a rag. He tossed aside some clothes that had the same red substance on them and felt the presence of a chakra source similar to his own. Zetsu looked at the ground and saw another white half clone appear and immediately took it into his body. Gaining the memories of the clone he opened his mouth and spat out a white half clone saying, "That should supply the other clone for at least two weeks. Be sure to record as much as you can so that we have a chance to know what to do incase Naruto-kun's cover is blown." The clone nods and disappears back into the ground and to his body that resides inside Naruto.

Zetsu begins to talk to himself, "It would seem that Naruto-kun will be going to the academy starting tomorrow."

_"It would seem so and everyone is taking a liking to him aside from the veteran ninjas who are being cautious around him including the Hokage."_

Zetsu looks around and says, "Getting our clones in and out of the Konoha is becoming more of a chore now. Things will only get more complicated as the years go on." Zetsu suddenly felt another chakra source appear out of thin air. The human plant turned around and saw a man wearing a black outfit, long messy black hair, a white mask with a right eye hole with black markings on the mask.

The newcomer walked over to Zetsu asking him, "Hello Zetsu-san." He put his hands behind his back and asked him, "So…. What's new?"

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

You know what I've noticed now, nobody looks at the funny side of life now a days. Everyone is too serious and to uptight and don't try to relax, whenever I get pissed or really upset I really look for the funny side of life and I'm never mad for too long. If you know me you'll see that I'm always happy and I never try and bring other people down like a few of my family members. I'm sure all someone needs is a good ass laugh to brighten their day.

Special Thanks to **Exkyuubi** for his kind words and for understanding that some of the writer's have lives outside of FF and that we have our own priorities to attend to first. I'd also like to thank:

**c im am a dragon**

**Hee Ho Master**

**Wyrtha**

**KaliAnn**

**Leaf Ranger**

**Riku Uzumaki**

For their constant reviews and their support. If I missed anyone please forgive me.… I'll try and upload both my stories by this weekend.


	11. My Name is Naruto Namikaze

Chapter Ten: My Name is Naruto Namikaze

Let me start off by saying that I'm very grateful for all you positive reviews for both my stories, but while I'm on the topic of a review I've taken the time and looked back on my previous reviews for both of my stories and I can't help but wonder.

*** "RANT ALERT!" ***

Why is it that some reviewers seem to have the need to tell me that you will not read my stories anymore or give me a warning that they might give up on my stories and I must say that those kind of reviews really irritate me. I mean seriously I've said this a few times, but I'll say it again. 'I DO NOT care if you no longer want to read my stories! I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY JUST DON'T GIVE A FUCK! I 'ONLY' care for the ones who decide to stay and continue reading!' I'm just plain tired of reading those kinds of reviews. 'PLEASE' don't bother telling me that you plan to or you'll give up on my stories, I won't say any names but you know who you are. Again I 'ONLY' care for my readers who decide to stay through the good and the bad and you know who you guys are and 'YOU' are the ones I want to keep and the ones I really care about. If you decide to leave, then you'll be missed, but I'm not concerned with those who leave at all and I don't see the point in you telling me that your done reading my stories nor do I care for the ones who really do leave. Also the ones giving me a heads up that they will leave don't end up staying anyway since they have nothing better to do then point out the flaws in the stories. So all in all 'I JUST DON'T GIVE A FUCK AND I'M TIRED OF READING THAT YOU'RE LEAVING AND GIVING UP ON MY STORIES!'

*** "RANT OVER…." ***

Please enjoy the new chapter and have a nice day and also if you want to know about the poll results 'Read after the story for Author's Note'.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Early in the Morning: Hokage Mansion *

Arashi snuck back into his home opening the door to the home as quietly as he could. He closed the door once he was in and locking it, then quietly walked inside past the living room, but stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a voice come from the living room.

"Your home rather early in the morning."

Arashi froze and looked in the living room and saw Naruto sitting on the couch with his usual uninterested look. Arashi let out a sigh of relief asking him, "Yeah I had a rough night. What about you? What are doing up this early in the morning?" Naruto answered, "I don't sleep for very long. The maximum hours I sleep without serious injuries is about four hours at a time." Naruto got up from the couch and said, "I've been keeping myself busy by trying to fully controlling my wind element by just making a weapon out of my hand." Very interested in this Arashi walked over to him asking, "Mind showing your big brother what you've learned?"

Naruto nodded and followed Arashi to the Hokage's training ground so that Naruto could show his older brother a little bit of his wind style that he's learned. Once the two Namikazes were out in the open Arashi turned and looked at his little brother telling him, "Well show me what you've learned." Looking around Arashi points to a tree and says, "Hit that tree over there with a wind attack." Naruto takes a fighting stance and as soon as he does wind shoots up around Naruto's fists making a kind of boxing gloves made up of wind. After forming them Naruto dashes at the tree keeping his left hand as close to the ground as he could he unleashes a punch full force doing an uppercut.

Once his fist connects with the tree it the wind breaks through the tree breaking through it close to it's base with ease and as the tree fell Naruto followed up with a right hook hitting the tree in the center breaking it completely in half. The two halves of the tree fell to the ground and Naruto still had his right arm curved after delivering his right hook. Arashi smiled and began to clap all the while thinking, 'That jutsu is basically destructive power. Not many wind based ninja use their bare hands and feet to fight and only use their weapons for a quick kill.' He walked over to Naruto looking at the destroyed tree thinking again, 'No clean cuts… Only a destructive blast that I think rivals the force of an explosive tag… maybe even more with the right training...'

The older Namikaze placed his hand on his little brother's shoulder all the while smiling, "That is a very strong jutsu Naruto-kun and you might be one of the few ninjas to maybe use hand to hand tactics in using a wind affinity. Most others would pull out a kunai or any other weapon to end a fight." Naruto did something that Arashi saw for the first time since Naruto came home… He smiled. Arashi said to Naruto, "Well now let's get some sleep, it's three o'clock in the morning and you have to be at the academy at seven thirty so you'll need all the sleep you can get."

Naruto dropped his smile and followed his older brother into the house not wanting to argue. Naruto felt a little twitch in his left arm and began to rub it, Arashi saw him do that at that moment and asked if he was okay to which Naruto assured him he was okay. As they walked into the house Naruto smelled something and said, "What's that smell? It smells like sweat, anger, and shame." (I couldn't resist the Stewie Griffin moment) Arashi froze and said nervously, "D-Don't be silly. Come on let's get to bed." Naruto eyed him carefully and walked upstairs into his room to get some more rest till school starts.

* Meanwhile *

Minato was awake and was sitting on a chair in his room close to the window and was smiling proudly. He had just seen his youngest son's jutsu and was very impressed with it's results, he'd woken up earlier when Arashi got home, but was very quiet and he overheard Arashi asking Naruto to show him his wind technique and he decided to head back upstairs to look out at the training ground and that's when he saw his son's ninjutsu.

He just sat in his seat silently while looking at his wife's sleeping form. This gave him time to think about everything that's happened the past few days, Naruto's sudden return, his locked away memories, and what Kakuzu's plot was and Naruto's involvement in it. It's not that he doesn't trust his son, but he just doesn't trust Kakuzu and his influence over Naruto. At this point he needed to keep a close eye on Naruto incase something or someone triggers those missing memories.

The one thing he didn't like about being kage nor could he change was that no matter what he needed to be a Hokage and act as one even if it meant doing things he didn't like. If he could, he would drop all suspicions around his son, but he can't have everything his way and to stop thinking like he used to when he was a child thinking he could do anything once he became the Yondaime Hokage.

* 7:30 A.M. *

"Kaa-san we have to go you'll make us late!" Shouted an impatient Haru. Kushina was wrapping up in making them bentos for school, but Haru wanted to get to school quickly, Naruto however was waiting silently and patiently for his mother to finish up. Kushina finished wrapping up their bento's and handed Haru her bento that was wrapped in a bright orange cloth while Naruto's was wrapped in a light blue one. After she handed them their lunches she kneeled down and kissed both of them on their cheeks and said, "Haru-chan I want you to stick close to Naruto-kun and show him around after you both eat your lunch and introduce him to your friends at school."

The little blonde girl smiled and said, "Don't worry I'll take care of Naru-kun. Oh and by the way kaa-san, could we have a slumber party again this time for Naruto?" Kushina asked her why and Haru answered, "Because Naruto's never had one I'm sure and it'll be a good way for him to get to know a lot more about my friends at the sleep over." Naruto was looking at his sister out of the corner of his eye and was wondering what a 'sleep over was', but he gathered from what she said that it's a gathering of friends, slumber which means sleep, and the word over, so putting that together her friends would come over to stay the night. He didn't get it, but didn't wish to press the issue.

Kushina thought about it and answered, "Well you'll have to ask you tou-san about that. We might be doing something as a family over the weekend, but it wouldn't hurt to ask him." Haru smiled and then grabbed her twin's hand and said, "Come on nii-san we'll be late if we're here any longer." Naruto nodded and his sister dragged him to the front door and they waved goodbye to their mother in the process.

Kushina watched them go and she heard some footsteps coming down the stairs and she went over to see her oldest boy still a little bit tired. She giggles and asks, "So how was your date yesterday? I take it everything went well?" Arashi laughs a bit nervously telling his mother, "Yeah well we walked around the village and saw a few places that we don't really get to see, then went to the Azure Sky Restaurant, stayed there for a few hours to talk, then I walked her home around eleven and I got back around midnight…" Letting out another nervous laugh.

Accepting that answer Kushina said, "Well then it seemed like a romantic time you and Hana-chan had." Arashi rubbed the back of his head nervously saying, "Yeah we did."

Afterward Kushina walked away earning a sigh of relief from the teen Namikaze, but that was short-lived once Kushina stopped and said, "By the way… Tsume-san sent a messenger dog with a note that requests that next time to not bring her daughter back home at two thirty in the morning and leaving her smelling obscene as she puts it that she doesn't want to know about her daughter's love making." Kushina began to giggle like a school girl as she left saying, "I swear your like your father, I hope Naruto-kun doesn't pick up both of your habits." After she was gone from his sight Arashi just stood there stunned and very red from embarrassment.

* Konoha Ninja Academy *

Haru and Naruto were jogging to the school with Naruto following a tad bit behind her. Naruto got only a pair of clothes from Jia-Li which was his faded black ninja long sleeve shirt and pants with the red swirl on the back and black sandals. Haru was wearing an orange sleeveless shirt with the red swirl on the back, blue ninja pants and blue sandals. Naruto had a one strap back pack, while Haru had the normal backpack.

As they were running Haru could see the school and she said, "Oh great I don't see anyone in the yard, which means the bell probably already rung. We should hurry." Naruto followed silently behind his sister as they ran across the academy yard and into the building.

* Inside the Classroom *

The class room was a decent size for the soon to be ninja students inside. Iruka was in the middle of role call when the door to the classroom was swung open and Haru ran inside stopping close to Iruka catching her breath, "Sorry for being late Iruka-sensei, but we lost track of time." Iruka smiled and said, "No problem Haru-chan, I didn't call your name yet so your still safe."

Haru made a hand motion for him to lean down which he did. Haru whispered in his ear to which he smiled and stood back up saying, "I already know about that Haru-chan. The Hokage told me and I'm glad he's here. Where is he?" Haru told her sensei, "He's waiting outside the in the hallway." Iruka nodded and asked her to take her seat while he went to speak with Naruto.

Iruka left the classroom and into the hall to go speak with Naruto, while Haru went to her desk where she sat next to Choji and Hinata. Choji asked Haru, "Hey Haru-chan who were you and Iruka-sensei talking about just now?" Sitting behind Haru was Kiba who asked her as well, "Yeah what's up with that?" Haru gave them her foxy smile and said, "You'll see soon enough."

Hinata was the only one of Haru's friend's who knew about Naruto, but her father told her to keep it to herself and to let the academy announce Naruto's return. Hinata didn't go against her father's wishes and remained silent about Naruto. All the students began talking amongst themselves and Haru looked around the classroom and saw Sasuke sitting alone close to the top row off to the side. There were a few girls by him trying to get his attention, but to no avail. Haru puffed out her lip and watched as he ignored all the girls thinking, 'He's become so stuck up now. Arrogant jerk, he's nothing like Itachi-kun.' She looked away from Sasuke crossing her arms with a look of disappointment on her face.

Hinata saw her friend do this and laughed at how she acted, she'd know Haru would never admit to being worried about Sasuke not in a million- no billion years, but deep down he was a friend to her and she would help him if he'd only let her.

Everyone stopped talking when the classroom door opened up and Iruka walked back in, everyone turned to the front and saw a young blonde boy walking behind Iruka with a emotionless look. Iruka handed Naruto a piece of chalk and said, "Go ahead write your name on the chalkboard, then look to your fellow classmates and introduce yourself and then tell us some of the things you like."

Naruto took the chalk and then looked to the whiteboard and began to write on it. All the kids saw him write on the chalk board and were a bit stunned at what he put on the board, once Naruto was done he placed the chalk on the metal tray that was under the board and then looked to his classmates saying, "Hello, my name is Naruto Namikaze."

Immediately the students began looking back and forth between Haru and Naruto with stupid looks on their faces. Naruto continued by saying, "I like ramen, training, hunting, plant cultivating, my family, and Hinata-chan." After he said that Hinata's face became redder than a tomato, apple, and the color red itself. Haru began to laugh out loud and a few of the kids in class now started to look between Naruto and Hinata who was now poking her index fingers together looking down at her desk. Naruto didn't understand the reactions and asked, "Iruka-sensei I don't understand."

Iruka gave a small laugh and explained, "Well Naruto-kun I think your heart was in the right place, but the last one you said about Hinata-chan may have been misunderstood on both the student's and your part." Naruto said though, "But you said to tell them about the things I like and that's what I did." Iruka couldn't help but chuckle at how clueless Naruto was about how he puts words together. Iruka waved his hand in the air for Naruto to forget about it and quickly says, "Well let me finish role call and then I'll assign you a seat. The Hokage wanted you to be near your sister so that you wouldn't be left out." After Iruka finished calling names he said to Choji, "Well Choji-kun I wanted to know if you would mind giving up your seat to Naruto-kun and I can assign you the empty seat next to Shikamaru-kun."

Choji didn't argue and got up and walked over to his best friend Shikamaru who was sleeping, but he know's about Naruto he only fell asleep once Iruka started taking role. Naruto saw where his sister was and walked up the steps to the now empty seat and sat down quietly. Iruka caught the classes attention and said, "As a few of you may know based off of rumors or from what your families may have told you, Naruto-kun here is the second son as well as the second born to our Hokage, Minato Namikaze and his wife Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze. Naruto-kun here went missing the day he was born and has returned a few days ago, so I ask that you all be nice and try not to ask him about his ordeals."

Everyone agreed with Iruka and they heard him say, "Okay now pull out your notes and we'll learn a little bit about the Niidaime Hokage." All the students reached into their packs and pulled out their notebooks and started to take their notes.

* Lunchtime *

The bell rang for students to get lunch and have free time for about forty-five minutes. Haru's friends pulled out their bentos and walked over to Haru and Naruto asking the two blondes series of questions. Naruto remained emotionless and somewhat ignored the questions floating his way, but Haru took up to answering them as best she could.

Naruto used his left hand to grab his chopsticks to begin eating, but a familiar twitch in his left arm returned and he dropped his chopsticks. Hinata asked Naruto, "Naruto-kun are you okay?" Naruto continued rubbing his left arm and answered, "Yeah I'm okay. My left arm has been a little funny, but it's nothing of a big concern." Haru picked up his chopsticks that fell on the desk and handed them to him.

Naruto this time took them with his right hand to which Shikamaru asked, "So your ambidextrous huh." Naruto looked behind himself and said to the lazy ninja, "Yeah I am. Something I was taught a long time ago." Naruto opened his bento and started to eat and everyone brought their questions to a minimum as they all ate. Ino was talking to Haru from the row below hers while Hinata talked with Sakura.

Naruto kept a close eye on how everyone talked to one another and after everyone introduced themselves he immediately took their names to memory along with noticeable traits, 'Choji- The Glutton, Shikamaru- Lazy Bum, Kiba- Loudmouth Mutt, Sakura- Big Forehead, Ino- Name means Boar, and Shino- … Glasses?' Thought Naruto. He successfully attributed everyone's name based off what he's seen and their habits. Though the names he gave them were a little much or weird the were the only ones he thought were interesting and would make it as ninjas.

Kiba huffed and said pointing to the upper rows, "Look the charming prince is eating alone again." Everyone including Naruto looked up at the upper row and saw Sasuke eating alone. Sakura said to Kiba, "Oi Kiba don't say anything bad to Sasuke-kun, you know what he's been through." Kiba was about to argue, but Shikamaru stopped him and said, "Leave it be Kiba man. If Sasuke wants to be troublesome, then leave him. Sasuke will come back into our group once he's ready."

Ino teased Shikamaru by elbowing him in the side, "Aren't you the wise man." Naruto looked at Haru and asked, "Who this Sasuke guy your all talking about?" Haru looked to her twin and answered him, "His name is Sasuke Uchiha and he is the second born of the previous clan head Fugaku Uchiha, his older brother's name is Itachi Uchiha. However the Uchiha clan was-"

Naruto stopped her by informing her, "I'm aware of what happened to the Uchiha clan and their annihilation. To think that he's the younger brother of Itachi Uchiha." Choji said with a mouth full of food muffling out most of his words, "Yeah, but your the son of the Yondaime Hokage and the brother to Arashi Namikaze and Haru-chan here." Ino appeared behind Choji and knocked him in the back of the head scolding him for talking with a full mouth. Naruto looked back at Sasuke and saw that the young Uchiha was glaring daggers at him, but Naruto scuffed it off and ignored him continuing to eat his food. Sasuke stared at the back of Naruto's head thinking, 'Then your just another obstacle I must overcome if I am to fight Arashi and Itachi.'

All the students ate the rest of their lunches and then returned to their seats once the bell rang signaling that lunch was now over. Everyone returned to their seats and the rest of the day was going by without any trouble from the rest of the students. The day was almost over and Iruka was just about to finish up his lesson when a knock came to the classroom door.

Iruka told his students to stay in his seat as he answered the door, he opened it and then the students saw him smile and he moved away from the door and the students in the classroom saw the Hokage walk into the classroom. The students all stood up as a sign of respect to the Hokage. Minato strolled in with both hands behind his back and his usually carefree smile.

Both Iruka and Minato walked to the front of the class with Iruka asking politely , "It's good to see you Hokage-sama, what brings you here today?" Minato glanced around the classroom and said, "Well for starters kids you could all take your seats." The students did as they were told and sat down. The Hokage saw both Haru and Naruto sitting next to each other with Haru looking a little embarrassed that he was there and Naruto looked like he usually did.

He took a few steps foreword answering Iruka's question, "I thought I just check in on how your class was doing today Iruka-san and I must say that all your students look well behaved." Iruka chuckled a little bit and said, "They are ninjas so looks can be deceiving." A few of the students stuck their tongues out at Iruka who scolded them for doing that in the Hokage's presence, but Minato simply laughed saying that they were still kids.

"Actually the real reason I'm here is to pick up Naruto-kun and Haru-chan." said Minato. Iruka nodded his head and looked at Haru and Naruto who packed their bags and walked down the steps to their father. Minato kneeled down and said, "Well let's get going. Say goodbye to the rest of your class." Both the kids turned around and waved goodbye to their class saying that they'd see them all tomorrow. The three Namikazes left the academy building, Haru took her dad's left hand as they walked to their home.

Naruto looked over and saw what Haru did, so he did the same he reached over and grabbed his dad's right hand. Minato looked down to both of his kids each smiling, but was even more happy that Naruto took his hand as well.

* Hokage Mansion *

Minato, Naruto, and Haru walked inside their home and Minato told his kids to put their backpacks away and to meet him in the training ground. Both did what they were told and they put their backpacks away and met him at the training ground. Meanwhile he went into his office and grabbed a sword that a daimyo gave to him as a congratulations for becoming kage.

* Hokage Training Ground *

Minato and his kids were down in the training ground with him looking down at his two kids in front of him. Haru asked, "Tou-san what are we suppose to be doing?" Minato pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Haru telling her, "I want to find out what your element affinity is. I already have a good idea what it might be, but I just wanna see it myself."

She took the piece of paper and then looked over to Naruto, "You don't wanna know what Naruto-kun's affinity is?" Minato looked at Naruto and said, "Don't worry I already seen what his affinity was." Naruto couldn't guess how he would've known except if Arashi told him, but he said that he seen it. Minato instructed Haru, "Okay now focus a little bit of chakra into it Haru-chan."

Haru held the paper between her index and middle finger and closed her eyes sending chakra through the paper. A few seconds went by and both Minato and Naruto saw the paper split in half. Haru opened her eyes when she heard a slicing sound and saw that the paper had split in half. Minato took the two slips from Haru and explained, "Well it seems that like the rest of us save for your mother you have a wind affinity. Although I wouldn't doubt if you have a lightning affinity as well like your mother."

The little girl asked, "Is having a wind affinity good?"

Minato pulled the sword he left laying on the ground and said, "Watch carefully." Minato looked around and saw a tree that was about seven feet away from him. In one good swing he didn't move from his spot, but Haru saw the tree get sliced in half somehow. Naruto however saw how he did it since he could do the same thing, but he could only make the wind chakra surround his blade a few inches.

"Us wind natures don't have to worry about using handsigns when it comes to weapons, but if we are making a volley jutsu or some other type that involves projectiles or massive winds, then you'll need to do just that and the handsign that goes with the wind attacks is the 'Dog' handsign." Minato explained, "But we won't be doing anything like that, for now I'm gonna get Haru-chan to use her wind affinity first while I also show you Naruto how to refine his jutsu some more."

Naruto asked his father, "Isn't this bad? Won't this show favoritism as the Hokage?" Minato chuckled and shook his head saying, "If I were the Hokage then It would be shown as favoritism, but right now I'm not on the clock so right now I'm your father not the Hokage and a father has every right to teach his children doesn't he?"

He shook his head at his father's logic. Minato walked over to the tree and pointed to it telling Haru, "Okay Haru-chan how about you start picking off leaves and I want you to be able to cut the leaf with only your chakra, simply hold it between your palms and focus on doing just that."

"I used that same method when I learned to do my wind training." said Naruto. Minato explained, "Yeah that's the basic method to do it, but the other ways are bit more advanced for older ninjas. Okay Haru get started." Haru ran over to the tree and sat down cross legged and grabbed one of the leafs and began trying to cut it in half. Minato immediately summoned out a clone and then looked to Naruto saying, "Okay son, my clone here will help you out with your training while I stay here and help out Haru-chan okay."

Naruto nodded and followed the clone away from Minato and Haru. Once they were far off Minato sat behind his daughter and started doing few hand signs chanting in a very low voice, "Rat-Boar-Ox-Snake-Dragon-Dog-Horse-Rat-Boar-Ox-Snake-Dragon-Dog-Horse…." After he he finished his chant he held out his hand and a seal mark appeared on the palm of his right hand that read 'Subdue' and then placed his right hand in the center of his daughter's back making her twitch a little bit.

The little girl stopped and asked, "Tou-san? What's wrong?" Minato kept up his cheery tone answering her, "Tou-san is just making sure you don't overexert yourself that's all." Haru accepted the answer and returned to trying to cut the leaf in half with her chakra.

Minato's face became serious remembering what happened the last time Haru lost her temper and all control a few years back and created a fuinjutsu just for this occasion. 'I just hope that doesn't happen again.' thought Minato.

* Next Day: Academy *

Haru and Naruto walked into the classroom taking there seats. Hinata was still seated next to her two blonde friends, she saw that Haru looked exhausted and had dark rings under her eyes. Worried about her friend she asked, "Haru-chan are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm okay I think. Tou-san had me and Naruto training all yesterday, so I'm a little exhausted."

Haru looked over at her brother and said, "Naruto on the other hand went through the training without trouble though." Naruto answered, "I trained under worse conditions so it wasn't to nerve wrecking."

The three kids stopped talking when Iruka caught all of the student's attention.

"Okay class listen up. We have yet again a new student for our class. Now he transferred over from the former ninja village academy in Yugakure, so be nice." He called out to the door, "Okay you can come in."

The classroom door opened and a boy entered the room. This kid and the sun obviously never met since his skin was very pale, he had short black hair, black eyes, he had a dark purple button up shirt and matching pants, black sandals, and had a his black backpack with red straps. The boy kept a eery smile on his face which made a lot of the students creeped out by him.

The young lad grabbed the chalk and wrote his name on the board saying, "Hello my name is Sai Izanmaru I'm eleven years old, my hobbies include painting, calligraphy, and sketching, I like momen tofu and dislike dangos." A few of the students either waved or didn't say anything to him at all.

Iruka looked around and said, "Okay Sai take a seat in the third row up top in that empty seat there." Iruka pointed at an empty seat and Sai walked up the steps and passed Naruto who sits at the edge of his row. Sai stopped for a moment and looked at Naruto with that creepy smile. Naruto looked back at him and they had a stare off for a moment before Sai said, "Hello there dick less."

Everyone in the class looked shocked that he actually said that and all eyes were on the two wondering what Naruto would do. Haru stood up from her seat and shouted, "Shut your damn mouth or else I'll shut it for ya!" Sai continued to smile and Naruto held his hand up for Haru to stop. Naruto looked back at Sai and said, "Get lost. Your becoming a nuisance."

Sai's expression didn't change and he walked up the steps to his seat. Naruto looked to his sister who still looked heated and ready to fight, "Haru-chan please calm down." Haru shouted somewhat at Naruto, "Your just gonna let him talk to you like that!"

"I'm a ninja, I don't let people's words get to me." said Naruto. At that moment Haru calmed down and thought about her brother's words, it was as if they were directed at her since 'she' lost her cool easily. She sat down in her desk pouting.

Iruka had a smirk on his face impressed with how Naruto handled the situation, but he would need to keep an eye on Sai to keep him from causing trouble with the rest of the class. 'Boy these next few years are gonna be wild.' thought Iruka.

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For those of you who've noticed that I haven't updated my stories for a minute is because I just love how work keeps me away from home, but that's no excuse. I'm sad to say that the new chapter for 'Naruto's Rise' won't be up for sometime since my file containing the new chapter got erased from my computer and I need to start off from scratch, so it possibly won't come out until Sunday at the earliest and Monday at the latest. I'm sorry for that mishap and I'll try and update that story as soon as I can. However I won't be able to type it up tomorrow since I will be at a party watching Chuck _**'The Iceman'**_ Liddell fight against Rich _**'Ace'**_ Franklin and Mirko **_'Cro Cop'_** vs Pat Barry this Saturday, so no type of FF work for me that day, but as soon as I get home I'll start working again.

Concerning the votes on the poll you've all taken your time to do I've got all of them in and let me say that I will not reveal the results until that moment comes where Naruto makes his decision. Sorry if you all don't like it, but I thought I'd make it a surprise. Thank you all again for reading and keep a look out for updates.


	12. Unbound

Chapter Twelve: Unbound

I've recently found that I should no longer say I will up date when I say since life won't let me. So I will update whenever I can. On side note I'm thankful that a lot of you understand what I meant in my rant last chapter and I really appreciate that.

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* A Few Weeks Later: Konoha Academy *

Naruto punched and hit Sai hitting him dead in the boy's side on the lower parts of the ribs making the pale-faced boy stumble back, Naruto took this moment and followed up by doing a combination of punches and kicks keeping the boy on the defense. Naruto finally ended the fight by ducking a punch that Sai threw out of desperation at Naruto's head, but the blonde ducked under the punch tossing an overhand right punch that hit Sai right in his jaw knocking him to the ground. Before Naruto could deliver some unnecessary punches Iruka appeared next to Naruto catching his wrist stopping him.

"Now the rest would've been unnecessary Naruto-kun." said Iruka, he then loosened his grip on Naruto's wrist. Naruto stood up straight and watched Sai stand up with that same creepy smile on his face. Iruka raised his hand and said, "Winner: Naruto Namikaze." All of Iruka's students were inside their gym having friendly one on one battles with each other.

Naruto walked over to where Haru was and stood next to her while Sai went in the opposite direction with the rest of the class. Iruka stood in front of his class and said, "Well you've all done well in your sparring matches today. Well that's it for today and it's about time for all of you to head home, so I'll see you guys in two days and remember that we are practicing with kunai and shurikens when we get back."

His class nodded and he dismissed all of them. The students went over to a corner of the gym grabbing their bags and started to file out of the gym. Haru, Naruto, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, and Kiba left in a big group. Kiba walked next to Naruto elbowing him a little bit saying, "Man if Iruka-sensei wasn't there you woulda beat him senseless."

Haru told her twin, "Yeah nii-san. I guess you finally couldn't stand him calling you names all week huh?"

"It's not like that." said Naruto. He stopped suddenly and everyone else did as well, "The reason why I was going to do that was because I was taught never to let up on your opponent, never give them a breathing chance, never give them an opportunity to retaliate. That's what I was taught." Shikamaru said to no one in particular, "That's pretty hardcore."

The group started walking together with Kiba asking, "What happened to Sakura?" Haru told him, "Where else. She's still trying to convince Sasuke to come back into our group so things could be like the old days."

"She's determined isn't she?" said Hinata.

Spoke his usual short sentences, "Her constant bugging him won't get him back." Shikamaru agreed, "Yeah the more she pesters him the more he'll want to stay away."

Ino told all of them, "Well at least she's trying something and not sitting back waiting like we are." Choji agreed with Shino and Shikamaru, "I'd rather he come back on his own then thinking that we are extremely desperate to have him back."

"Anyway you guys still gonna come over tomorrow for the sleepover?" asked Haru wanting to change the subject. Kiba was the first to answer shouting, "I'll definitely be going!"

"I know we won't really be relaxing, but it'd be more of a drag to remain home. So I'll go to." said Shikamaru.

Ino walked up to Haru and said, "Don't worry, you know I'll be going." Choji pulled out a fresh bag of chips from his bag and opened them munching as he said, "I'll *munch munch* go too. *munch*"

Shino nodded his head not saying yes. Naruto looked over at Hinata who hadn't answered yet and he asked her, "You coming to Hinata-chan?" Hinata was startled for a moment and Haru asked to, "Yeah come on Hinata-chan it's no fun without you. So how bout it?"

Hinata looked back and forth between Naruto and Haru and answered, "O-Okay I'm in." Haru pumped her fist in the air shouting, "Yeah!"

Naruto glanced at his sister asking, "What about your friends Sakura and Sasuke?"

Ino answered, "I'll go by Sakura's house and ask her tomorrow before I come over since she lives close to our family's flower shop." Haru looked at the platinum blonde saying, "Good, then I can ask Arashi-nii to take me and Naruto to see Sasuke then." It was all decided and everyone left in their own directions heading home.

Haru and Naruto were walking side by side back home when Naruto asked, "Why are we having a sleepover for me again?" Haru grinned and said, "It's because you've never had one before so I'm throwing you one. Kaa-san and tou-san agree and they said we'll move family day to next weekend. It's already been decided and you didn't seem to complain when I threw the idea out the first time."

Naruto agreed to that since Minato and Kushina convinced him that it will be a good experience for kids his age. When they got home Naruto and Haru took their backpacks off and headed to the training ground to finish the steps to using wind techniques.

Haru immediately grabbed a leaf and shouted, "Today is the day I cut this leaf in half with my chakra!" Naruto clearly heard her and said calmly, "That's what you said last time."

A tick mark appeared over Haru's head and she shouted, "Shut up!" and immediately got into a meditating position and held the leaf between her palms. Naruto pulled out a kunai and tried to make his nature chakra surround the blade and extend it's reach. Unbeknownst to the two little blondes an ANBU ninja was standing guard hidden.

He was told to keep a close eye on the kids in case something happened.

Naruto got the blade to extend a little, but it wasn't good enough. Naruto then felt that all to familiar twitch in his left arm, he stopped for a moment and then held his arm and felt that it was lasting longer than it usually would. He ignored it however and continued training trying to manipulate his wind nature better.

* Inside Naruto *

Zetsu was watching the world through Naruto's eyes, but he sensed another ninja and already pinpointed where he was at. He thought to himself, 'Gotta make sure I do this right.'

* Normal: An Few Hours Later *

Naruto was practically going non stop on his training and it was starting to take it's toll on the resilient ninja. Naruto fell to his knees and held onto his left arm feeling the twitch getting stronger.

The ANBU watched as Naruto was stopping and thought that maybe he pulled something in his arm. Suddenly a white Zetsu half appeared off of the tree at an angle that the ANBU couldn't see nor Naruto since he was looking at the ground. Zetsu watched as Naruto went from, his knees, to all fours, then to falling down and passing out. Zetsu angled his head off the tree toward the ANBU and saw that he didn't even take notice of him yet and this was good. He merged back with the tree and from underground and how Naruto's body was laying against the ground it gave him easy access to get into Naruto's skin.

After the new Zetsu merged with Naruto's body and with the ANBU ninja none the wiser Naruto woke up rubbing the back of his head saying aloud, "What was that all about?" After he stood up he looked at both his hands feeling a new surge of power going through his body, somehow he felt a bit stronger than a few minutes ago.

But Naruto did what he did best, he ignored it and returned to training. He picked up the kunai he dropped and kept trying to extend the reach of the blade using his chakra and saw that when he did it this time the blade was an inch and a half longer than before. Now to others this wouldn't be big accomplishment, but for Naruto to extend the blade that far within a few minutes surprised him. Something made him stronger and he didn't know what.

* Hokage Tower *

Minato was shifting through his paper work and stacking them up for his assistant to file away. He stopped when someone knocked at his door to which he told the person to enter. When his door opened he saw Ibiki walking into the office, Ibiki was one of the true loyal ninjas and would follow his command without question.

"This is a surprise Ibiki. What can I do for you today?" asked a happy Minato. Ibiki bowed first before speaking, "Hokage-sama forgive my unannounced appearance, but this I have something I wish to talk to you about. It's concerning the roster in two years."

"You mean the new gennin roster?" asked Minato. Ibiki nodded and continued, "Yes, I know you get this already from a few ninjas who know of Naruto's return to the village. I am hear like a few of them… Allow me to be Naruto's sensei." Minato watched Ibiki with interest since this was really the first time he's taken to wanting a student outside of ANBU abilities.

Ibiki immediately said, "I only ask this is because of how Naruto was raised. See it like this Hokage-sama, Naruto was raised in an environment from what Inoichi told me was how a criminal would raise a child hoping that they would follow in their footsteps. Naruto is used to being trained by a do what I say and don't question me regime. The other jounin would teach him much like the academy teacher treats a child, surely you've noticed that Naruto has excelled in just this week, but with a look of superiority?"

Minato thought about it and he did hear from Iruka that while Naruto is fairly high he is showing signs of superiority to the other student's who aren't his friends, much like how Neji Hyuuga is currently doing in the upper class. Minato relaxed in his seat and asked, "How would you contribute to Naruto's training?" Ibiki looked at his Hokage and answered him, "I have an idea of putting two ninjas who would be considered failures amongst other ninjas with Naruto. If my hunch is correct than Naruto would take more interest in Konoha and the idea of teamwork if he's with ninjas with a superiority complex as well. Also the two ninjas I have in mind are last in their classes, but they never give up."

Ibiki took a brief moment to let the Hokage think about that before continuing, "If you allow me to train Naruto I can put him into the 'do as I say without question' situation that he's used to. He needs a team that won't hold him back and won't submit to Naruto."

Minato put on his Hokage look which was stern one when concerned with an issue. He let out a sigh and looked at Ibiki and noticed a small bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face and to his chin, "You know Ibiki that I don't like the idea of tossing Naruto back into a criminal element. However you raise a valuable point, I see it in Naruto that he's getting restless with the training he's receiving at the academy. I also spoke with Inoichi and he's told me that Naruto has learned everything the academy teaches in a short amount of time and his training regiments with Kakuzu far surpass what the academy can offer." Minato brought his hand to his face and then told Ibiki, "I'm going to allow this. Naruto will be your student in two years, but I want to see the two ninjas you have in mind first before agreeing that they will be on his team. If I don't approve, then you'll be stuck with two gennin graduating out of Naruto's class. Understood?"

Ibiki saluted the Hokage and said, "Hai Hokage-sama!" Minato smiled again and said, "Your dismissed."

Ibiki bowed to Minato and took his leave. Minato was wondering that if Ibiki was right and naruto develops a superiority complex, then would he even want to keep the friends he has now. He shook his head from those thoughts and said to himself, "Naw, as long as Haru is nearby she'll keep him in line."

* A Half-Hour Later: Hokage Mansion *

Naruto tossed the kunai away some time ago and was now practicing his hand to hand combat skill by making his wind nature surround his fist giving him a more deadly fighting style. Naruto lessened the wind on his fists giving him enough power to hit the trees but not break them in half… yet. He continually assaulted the tree punching into it and knocking chips off of it and cutting through it slowly.

Haru was watching at how advanced her brother was using their natural element and couldn't help but feel jealous at how advanced he was in using it. She looked around her and the ground was littered with leaves that had deep gashes in them, but they weren't cut into entirely, getting up she watched her brother and how fast his punches were and how strong they connected with the tree that now had a giant chunk missing.

Every time he punched she saw the visible wind follow around his fist and leave a trail behind his fists. Haru tightened her fists and thought to herself, 'I… I won't be left behind!' Haru jumped up the tree and snatched off a leaf and right when her feet touched the ground she took her mediating position and tried to cut the leaf in half.

Haru placed the leaf between her palms and gripped her hands together tight thinking, 'I CAN DO THIS!' Suddenly a surge of chakra shot out from Haru that caught Naruto's immediate attention. He turned around and saw what looked like red chakra emerging from Haru increasing her power. Naruto could feel the bloodlust, killing intent, and the sinister power radiating off of Haru and it was making his hands shake. This was the first time he felt anything this evil.

Naruto tightened his fists and began charging his wind chakra through his fists with enough power to turn the wind chakra white. Haru looked over at Naruto with red eyes and a black slit in each eyes, her nails and canine fangs grew, and the whisker marks on her cheeks thickened. Haru stood up with her red chakra surrounding her entire body she leapt at Naruto.

The young ninja was ready and avoided every attack Haru threw at him. Naruto noticed that everywhere her feet touched the grass beneath her burned, taking into account that he would be burned as well if he touches her. Haru tried to slash at Naruto, but Naruto ducked under her attack and he slid his foot forward and he punched Haru in the gut with his wind generated fist.

Naruto shouted, "Wind Style: Shredding Wind Straight!" Naruto's attack connected and he shot Haru away from him making her spin as she did so, his twin smashed into a wall making a loud crashing sound. Naruto dispelled the jutsu around his fist and waited for the dust to dissipate and saw that Haru was still standing with no injuries. Haru charged at Naruto more faster than before this time swinging her hands more viciously and swiftly. Naruto tried to avoid getting hit, but Haru's nails would nick him cutting him though not deep.

Haru managed to get Naruto off balance and took a chance and slashed Naruto in his side this time deep, Naruto was thrown back by the attack and was left helpless on the ground. Haru approached Naruto with the intent to kill him, Naruto looked at Haru with defiant eyes and stood back up holding his side and ready to continue battling.

Their battle was interrupted when the ANBU jumped down behind Haru and kicked the girl in her side knocking her away from Naruto. Haru skidded across the ground and came to a stop when she dug her nails into the dirt. The ANBU did a few handsigns and shouted, "Ninjutsu Style: Restriction from Hell!" Chains shot out of the earth and lassoed around Haru's neck, arms, body, and legs restricting her movements.

They thought the stopped her, but her red chakra burned away the links to the chains and she broke free. The ANBU did some more handsigns shouting again, "Fire Style: Kami's Tenth Plague!" He jumped into the air moving his mask allowing only his mouth be shown and rained down fire balls that were fairly big. Naruto watched as the fire attacks hit his sister and caused a big bonfire that engulfed her.

The ANBU jumped back down to Naruto and said, "That's not going to stop her. I'm only buying time until Kushina-senpai or the Hokage shows up." Haru jumped out of the fire and launched herself at Naruto and the ANBU ready to rip them to shreds, but Haru was stopped when a giant hand made out of rocks shot out of the ground catching Haru.

Kushina appeared before Haru and she did some handsigns at amazing speeds, when she was done she opened her hand to reveal the kanji written on her hand for 'Subdue' she slammed her hand onto Haru's face and a surge of chakra shot into Haru and it immediately dissipated her red chakra and it knocked her out. The giant hand crumbled away and Kushina caught Haru before she fell to the ground.

She shaded a few tears, but stopped when she heard a loud thud. Turning around she saw Naruto had passed out and was laying faced down on the ground, the ANBU turned Naruto over and examined his wound, the man made a gasping sound then turned around to Kushina and said, "Naruto-kun isn't bleeding."

Kushina immediately got up and carried her daughter over to where Naruto was to look at his wound. Upon closer inspection, he was right, Naruto's claw mark wound wasn't bleeding at all, there was only dry blood and four deep claw mark gashes, but no blood. Kushina regained her senses and told the ANBU, "Carry Naruto-kun, we're taking them both to the hospital."

The ANBU nodded and he gently picked up the ten year old and carried him on his back. Kushina and the ANBU ran over the wall separating the Hokage mansion and jumped over it heading to the hospital.

* Twenty Minutes Later: Konoha Hospital *

Minato ran into the hospital with two of his ANBU following behind him and the ANBU that was keeping watch over Naruto. The ANBU directed Minato to the room he and Kushina took his kids to and after turning a few corners they made it to the room. Minato instructed all three of his ANBU to remain outside and not to let anyone except Arashi in.

When he opened the door slowly he saw Kushina sitting in between Naruto and Haru's beds. Both the little blondes were still unconscious, but Kushina had a happy smile on her face. He walked over to Haru first since her bed was closer to him, he immediately pulled her blankets down past her stomach and lifted her shirt to look at her seal. After looking it over he let out a sigh of relief, "It's not damaged, thank goodness." Before Kushina could say anything he put Haru's shirt back down and put the covers back over her then went over to Naruto and pulled his blankets down and lifted his shirt to look at his wound. He saw that it was all patched up and there was no sign that it was bleeding.

Kushina walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist and told him, "They're both fine, just exhausted." He put Naruto's shirt back down and covered him back up as well, Kushina removed her hands and saw him walk over to pull his chair next to hers and sat down. Kushina saw the puzzled look on his face and asked him, "What's wrong?"

Minato rubbed his hands through his hair and said, "I need to fix her seal. She's being influenced by the Kyuubi's chakra and I should've known that the temporary lock I put on her seal would break eventually." Kushina looked over at Haru and said, "Why don't we cut the Kyuubi's chakra off from her entirely. It's too risky and we have to worry about fixing the seal every time she uses it and overtime it will weaken without her tapping into it's power."

He shook his head, "I'd feel better if she had a backup incase she needs it. I just need to adjust the seal that will allow her to be in complete control of it's chakra." She wrapped her arms in his left arm and leaned her head on his shoulder giving some words of encouragement, "If you say you can do it, then you'll do it. However I think you should include Arashi into helping you, he is a genius with seals after all."

Minato got up and walked to the door and called the ANBU who was watching over Naruto into the room. Minato took his seat next to Kushina and the ANBU ninja stood in front of them, "Tell me what happened from when they entered the training ground." Minato ordered.

The ANBU replied willingly telling him what happened, "Well Hokage-sama I did as you said, I followed him to school and kept a close eye over him, I followed him home. No sooner had they entered the mansion did they run right into the training ground to continue their training. Naruto-kun walked away from Haru-chan to let her train on her own and he did the same, he trained by himself and then collapsed from exhaustion, he later got back up and continued his training. About a half-hour went by and that's when Haru-chan let loose the Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto-kun fought against her even knocking her some fifteen feet away. Haru-chan however recovered and attacked Naruto-kun giving him those gashes in his side. I later stepped in and held her off long enough for Kushina-senpai to stop her."

Kushina told Minato, "I wasn't there at the beginning, I went to the market and then when I got close to the house I felt the Kyuubi's charka and rushed to the house and saw that Haru was about to attack Naruto-kun so I used the suppression jutsu on her."

"Well that doesn't explain why Naruto didn't bleed to death." said Minato. Kushina wiped her eyes and said, "The doctor didn't know what it is either, but thank goodness it didn't bleed otherwise Naruto would've died from a massive blood loss even with the doctor's here."

Minato told the ANBU, "Thankfully the Kyuubi's chakra was very low and only those within the area of my home might of felt it, but should anyone ask tell them that this was a training exercise to control the Kyuubi and that it was handled precisely. Understood." The ANBU ninja agreed and was then dismissed.

That left the Namikaze family to sit alone. Kushina was used to being in the hospital and could find even the tinniest things entertaining, Minato however was rarely in the hospital and was fidgeting in his seat and was very uncomfortable.

They were both brought to their senses when they heard a groan. Naruto woke up and sat himself up holding his side remembering that his sister had attacked him. Kushina got up from her seat and walked over to Naruto putting her hand on his chest telling her son, "You shouldn't be sitting up yet. Lay back down and get some rest." Naruto was pushed gently back down onto his bed.

He rubbed his eyes and asked, "Is Haru okay?" Kushina smiled that he was worried about her, "Yes Naruto-kun she's okay. Your both in the hospital and you'll be able to come home tomorrow morning."

Naruto turned his head to his side and saw his dad looking over at him smiling at him like always. Minato asked Naruto, "How do you feel son?"

"A little sore, nothing to serious." said Naruto. Minato reached over and put his hand on Naruto's forehead and said, "Good. Do as you kaa-san says and get some rest."

Naruto nodded and looked back up at the ceiling and he closed his eyes to go back to sleep.

The nurse entered the room and said to the Hokage and Kushina that visiting hours were over and that they would need to come back in the morning. Kushina gave both of her kids a kiss on the cheek before leaving and Minato gave Haru a kiss on her forehead and one to Naruto on his as well. The nurse turned out the lights to the room and closed the door.

* Inside Naruto *

Zetsu saw everything that happened thinking to himself, 'That was close. It's a good thing I redirected the flow of his blood otherwise we would've lost the kid. Can't let that happen.' He sensed something thinking to himself, 'ANBU are outside the door and there is one outside most likely watching us through the window.' Zetsu resined himself and continued to lay dormant inside Naruto.

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Okay I hope you guys liked that chapter. Quick note there will be a time skip not on the next chapter but the chapter afterward to when they graduate the academy and another note I'm going to try and make the next chapter somewhere between 7,000 - 10,000 words (not including ANs). Thanks for reading my newest update and hopefully your summer is going better than mine.


	13. Let Me Explain

Chapter Thirteen: Let me Explain

OMG that took so long to finish and I am very sorry for my late update. Okay let start off my 5,000 word apology... but that would take to long so I'll summerize it: "Please forgive my late update and for not getting my lazy ass in gear." There I said it. Now hope you guys like this transitional chapter and there will be a timeskip on the next chapter. Peace!

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* Morning: Konoha Hospital *

Haru was laying on her bed slowly opening her blue eyes. Once she did however she was greeted with a bright light that shone in through the curtains making the girl hiss.

The nurse that just walked in and opened the curtains and drew her attention to the hissing sound seeing the Hokage's youngest child was now awake and was not a morning person. "Good morning Haru-chan." said the smiling nurse. Haru adjusted her eyes to the room and looked around realizing that she was in the hospital instead of her room. Her eyes then fell upon her sleeping twin who's bed was close to hers, wondering just what happened to the both of them.

She started to remember that it was like that time a long time ago when she was training and she blacked out and woke up later finding that she was in the hospital and the Hokage training ground was destroyed as was part of the wall surrounding the Hokage mansion. Her father had told her that he was trying out a new S-Ranked jutsu and the result was what she saw when she returned.

"Don't worry Haru-chan you'll be out of here before you know it." said the nurse. Haru leaned up and asked, "What happened?"

The nurse remembered what the Hokage told her and she answered, "Sorry Haru-chan, but I don't know the extent of what happened since I just got here." Haru sat up in her bed and looked over at Naruto watching as he slept peacefully. The door to the room opened up revealing her mother, older brother, and 'Itachi-kun!' thought the now blushing blonde.

Itachi took up a spot on the wall and watched as Kushina ran over to Haru and gave her caring hug letting a few tears streak down her face. "I'm so glad your okay Haru-chan." said Kushina.

Arashi was on the other side of Haru patting her head, "Yeah you gave your kaa-san a scare there when you didn't wake up last night." Haru blushed a little more now.

Itachi walked over to the bed the nurse was at that was currently being used by the second son Naruto Namikaze. The boy looked like a child version of the Yondaime. Arashi then walked over to Naruto's bed and saw him still asleep, he looked at the nurse asking, "Has he woken up at all?"

The nurse looked at Arashi and then to Kushina asking her to come over to where they were standing. She soon grabbed the curtain that separated Naruto's bed from Haru's leaving Haru by herself as she could only here what they were saying.

"Look here." said the nurse. She pulled Naruto's covers down and lifted his shirt showing the side where the wound was suppose to be and where his bandages used to be. Kushina immediately asked, "Who took his bandages off?"

"Sensei Hari did. It was last night when she came to check on both of the children and she noticed that his wound was completely closed and healed." said the startled nurse.

Itachi said out loud, "His wound healed up in a matter of hours? From what I was told he came back with cuts and a few bruises and those took some time to heal."

Arashi agreed, "It is strange that a major wound like this healed extremely fast."

Another voice caught all their attention, "That is true." The female doctor who cleared Naruto to be able to take part in the academy some time ago walked in (The doctor in chapter 10). She walked around the curtain and told them, "We have to remember that Naruto-kun was in the hands of an S-Ranked criminal and if we can all recall a certain S-Ranked one from our village we can assume that this Kakuzu did more to Naruto than we could imagine. Naruto's healing abilities seem to kick in if he suffers a serious wound otherwise his minor scratches and bruises would've healed the moment they were inflicted."

"Still though, for healing abilities like that only a few ninjas have something like it." said Arashi. Hari smiled and joked saying, "Maybe either the Namikazes or the Uzumakis have secret rapid healing ability that they themselves aren't aware of."

Kushina noticed that Naruto's eyes started to move and he opened his eyes. Hari was the first to say, "Good morning Naruto-kun." Naruto groggily got up and said, "Good morning."

His mother turned to the curtain and pulled back the curtains allowing Haru to see her brother. Naruto made eye contact with her and said, "Hey sis." his face still void of noticeable emotion. She put up a smile and replied to him happily, "Hey aniki."

"Well Kushina-sama you can take them home since both are okay, but I will need them to come back tomorrow just to be sure." said Hari. Kushina nodded understanding and telling the doctor that she will bring the kids in tomorrow morning. After Hari told her what time in the morning to come and what room she'd be in she allowed the kids to leave. Naruto got up himself and stretched out his body, Haru did the same thing stretching out her body as well so it won't cramp up later.

Haru pumped her hand in the air and shouted, "Let's go to Ichirakus for some ramen!" Naruto looked at his carefree sister and told her, "Isn't everyone from the academy coming over sometime soon?" Haru froze and sweat dropped from her head completely forgetting. Kushina chuckled and she looked to Itachi asking him, "Will Sasuke-kun join us Itachi-kun?"

Itachi looked at the Namikaze woman and then he closed his eyes saying in an emotionless tone, "I don't think he will. However I will talk to him and try to get him out of the house." That's all she could ask for and they left the hospital. Haru was holding her mother's hand as they walked toward the Namikaze compound, Naruto was standing behind them with his eyes locked onto Haru's back still wondering why no one bothered to tell him about that power of hers nor why anyone tried to clarify it afterward. He just needed to bide his time until they either told him soon or he would bring it up.

Itachi and Arashi were behind the group walking at an even pace with everyone. Arashi smiled and asked Itachi, "So I hear your mission with Jiraiya-jii were a little bit much?" Unlike his blonde counterpart, Itachi showed no emotion and said, "Jiraiya-sama is a difficult man to work with since he tends to mix in work and 'fun' at the same time."

Arashi scratched the tip of his nose laughing a bit, "Yeah that's jii-san for ya. Well at least you guys are back and the old man can finally see Naruto-kun. By the way Itachi."

"Yes."

"But you don't even know what I was gonna say." said Arashi.

Itachi's black eyes looked into Arashi's blue ones telling him, "Yes I do, your going to ask me whether or not I had someone following you. The answer is yes." Arashi gave a creeped out kind of laugh asking, "Why?"

"Maybe it's because I wanted to make sure that when I return for a mission that I could have a fair fight with you." answered Itachi. Arashi scratched the back of his head nervously saying, "That's…. kinda creepy. Even if you motives seem okay."

* Hokage Mansion *

Itachi broke off from the Namikaze family going back home to convince Sasuke to go to the sleep over. Kushina headed inside with her kids and they could hear voices in the living room. Haru recognized both voices and she ran to the living room and she saw her father sitting on the couch and her godfather Jiraiya sitting on the one opposite of him. Jiraiya stood up and said, "Hey there hime it's been awhile."

Haru immediately started running and Jiraiya opened his arms to give the little girl a hug…. but Haru changed direction and jumped to her father saying, "Hey tou-san!" Minato laughed and said, "Hello Haru-chan. You feeling okay?" She simply nodded and she looked over and saw Jiraiya still standing there with a shocked look on his face. Haru made a humph noise and said coldly, "Oh... your here too. Well I guess I shouuld say hello Ero-Sennin."

Jiraiya looked at the girl and shouted, "Would you stop calling me that!" His eyes sending animated lighting bolts at her and Haru did the same thing shouting back, "I'll stop calling you Ero-Sennin when you stop being a hentai you HENTAI!"

Minato chuckled at the scene before him. Jiraiya's childlike manners were always countered by his daughter who wasn't afraid to talk down to the older and stronger sannin. His eyes deviated to the entrance of the living room seeing his wife, Naruto, and Arashi walk in. Jiraiya noticed them as well and saw Naruto standing in front of Arashi. Jiraiya was just told about Naruto's arrival back to Konoha and everything that they found up through Naruto's memories and what he told them. Jiraiya walked over to Naruto then kneeled down in front of him smiling.

Naruto immediately knew who Jiraiya was from when Kakuzu taught him about the most known ninjas in the countries and Jiraiya was one of the first ones he was told about. Jiraiya patted Naruto on the head and said jokingly, "So your the little Romeo I've heard about. Your tou-san told me who you captured the princess of the Hyuuga clan's heart. Way to go kid she's a real looker and a nice catch." Naruto didn't respond.

Minato stood up and looked at his wife then to his oldest son saying, "We're going to tell both of them now about what happened yesterday."

The twins looked confused at first, but Naruto recovered and was now interested with finding out what exactly that red sinister chakra was that Haru unleashed. Haru was a bit confused still since she doesn't remember what happened. Kushina asked her husband, "Are you sure it's okay?"

"She needs to know what is going on and Naruto needs to know as well since he saw what happened yesterday." Minato said sternly. Arashi patted Naruto on the shoulder and he successfully made eye contact with his little brother. He made a head motion for him to sit on the couch. Naruto nodded and walked over to the couch sitting down with Haru, his dad and his mother.

Jiraiya and Arashi sat on the two one seater couches across from them.

Minato leaned back on the couch and covered his eyes for a moment before asking his daughter, "Haru-chan, do you know what happened ten years ago?"

"Huh?" Haru asked at first then caught herself answering, "Well… You killed it by subduing it using a fuinjutsu and then you used another type of fuinjutsu that sealed it away and that you killed it in it's weakened state. Everyone knows that story tou-san." Minato, Arashi, Kushina, and Jiraiya looked like they didn't believe what she said… and they didn't.

Minato sighed and told her, "That's a lie Haru. I made up that lie so that everyone would think it's dead so that the village would be put a little more at ease and those who knew the truth weren't allowed to talk about it around children or those who don't know… I couldn't kill it." Haru looked shocked. Naruto on the other hand knew little about this crisis only having time to get the basic concept of the story.

Haru let out a small laugh and said, "That can't be true tou-san, your the strongest Hokage Konoha ever had." Kushina looked at her daughter who was sitting next to her saying, "It's no lie Haru-chan. Your tou-san couldn't kill it… The demon is very much alive still, but it won't be a threat anymore once your tou-san, Arashi-kun, and Jiraiya-san fully take care of it."

Naruto could sense the room go from tense to a much breathable environment. He now didn't need to ask them, since they were now going to willingly tell them about his sister's power.

Minato got up from his seat and kneeled in front of Haru telling her, "Haru-chan, the night both you and Naruto-kun were born I needed one of you to save the village from the disaster that was occurring which was the Kyuubi. Let me and your kaa-san tell you what happened."

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Flashback 10 Years: From both Kushina and Minato's positions *

Minato, Jiraiya, and Hiruzen Sarutobi the former Sandaime Hokage stood atop Konoha's wall the separated the village from the outside world. All three looked out into the distance of the sea of trees and on the dark horizon they could see a faint red aura of sinister chakra. The older former kage was wearing a black jumpsuit with gray shoulder armor, a gauntlet on his right arm, a leaf forehead protector bandana with long straps and a ninja helmet which he wears under it and the kanji for 'Third Hokage on the back of his black jumpsuit.

An ANBU ninja wearing a dog mask landed behind them bowing, "Hokage-sama, our forward advances have been wiped out by the demon and it keeps getting closer. We can only slow it down for so long, I estimate that it will be within Konoha's vicinity within thirty minutes."

Minato gritted his teeth after hearing that, "It won't be enough time. We'll be wiped out before we can retaliate, we need more time."

"I'll handle it. I'll summon Gamaken that way you can use Gamabunta for the sealing." Jiraiya told them. Hiruzen said afterward, "We have no other choice. Be careful out there Jiraiya."

Jiraiya took a crouched position and then leapt high into the air bitting his bottom lip in the process till it bled, he did a few handsigns in the air and used his left thumb to wipe off some blood. He aimed his hand toward the ground shouting out, "Summoning Jutsu!" Sealing marks appeared in the air followed by a giant cloud of smoke. It took a moment for the smoke to clear and Jiraiya landed on top of something big.

From the smoke a giant red toad with black markings streaming down from it's eyes connecting under it's chin, he also had the markings on his arms and legs, the toad has horn like protrusions on it's head, it is wearing a black kimono top, with a mesh shirt underneath that. It also seems to carry a sakazuki-like shield wrapped around it's back and a sasumata in it's hand.

Jiraiya tapped his foot lightly on the giant toad's head saying, "Okay Gamaken-san our mission is to hold off the Kyuubi so we could allow the kid to take it down." The toad named Gamaken had a sweat mark appear over his head, "Well that's sounds like a graceful operation there and I'm not very graceful." After saying that Gamaken jumped into the air heading toward the strong pulse of chakra.

Hiruzen sighed telling the younger Hokage, "I should be out there as well fighting alongside you kids." Minato let out a laugh at what his predecessor just said. The two soon could hear the echo of the battle between Gamaken and the Kyuubi wondering who was doing the most damage.

Ten minutes went by and another ANBU appeared next to the ANBU wearing the dog mask who stayed next to the two kages. This one was a female with short purple hair and a cat mask, "Hokage-sama. Kushina-senpai just had one of the two twins, it's a boy."

Minato turned around and smiled, but soon after that smile turned into a frown, "Thank you Yugao. Kakashi can you go and bring me my child."

"Hai sensei." said Dog. Kakashi jumped off heading toward the hospital. Hiruzen looked at Minato asking him, "You sure about this? This village will need you, Kushina can't raise three kids on her own and she barely has the strength to protect them should something happen since the Kyuubi was ripped from her body."

Minato let a tear roll down his face as he responded, "Yes I know, but I'm the only one who can stop this. If don't then none of us will be here and my kids will have died very young along with all the other newborns, babies, kids, and teenagers in this village who have yet to truly experience life." Hiruzen only sighed looking back into the distance.

* Konoha Hospital (Kushina Perspective) *

Kushina was lying on her hospital bed breathing heavily as the sannin named Tsunade was healing her and so were a few other medic nins. Helping deliver the second baby was Hari who just pulled the second baby out of Kushina, "Congratulations! It's a girl!" Kushina was breathing very heavily and was extremely tired from delivering her twins, Naruto was taken to another room to get cleaned up and to make sure he was healthy.

Hari grabbed some scissors and cut the umbilical cord separating Haru from her mother. Hari stood up to show kushina her baby girl and kushina reached out to touch her, but the doors flung open showing Kakashi with his dog mask off. He soon bowed and said, "Sensei needs the baby now, it's time." Kushina let tears stream heavily from her face shouting, "It should be me…"

Kakashi walked over and held his arms out for Hari to hand little Haru over to him. The doctor complied and handed Haru to him and upon inspection he noticed that it was a girl, "Where's the boy?"

"He's in a another room getting checked out. You'll have to use her." said a stern and pissed off Tsunade not liking this whole plan from the moment it was said. Kakashi started to leave, but then he gave one last look at Kushina before leaving. Tsunade looked at the five other med-nins in the room shouting, "Let's get back to healing Kushina! If we loose her then there will be hell to pay!" All of them agreed and they all hovered their hands over her making a green light of chakra from their hands as they tried to heal Kushina. Tsunade looked down at the Uzumaki turned Namikaze letting tears roll down her face since the woman laying on the bed was crying as well.

The doors opened again revealing two nurses with one carrying Naruto who was wrapped in a blue blanket. Kushina immediately reached her arms out after seeing who came in demanding, "Let me see him!" The nurse complied by handing the little bundle to her. Kushina looked down at the boy who was sleeping peacefully despite everything that was happening.

Kushina held the boy close crying as she hugged him. The little baby made a gurgle sound and Kushina moved him back to look at him noticing his blue eyes just like his father's. Tsunade smiled after seeing how cute the little baby was and she told Kushina, "I think he might be hungry." Kushina cracked a smile and she moved the right side of her hospital gown off her shoulder so her right breast was visible allowing her to feed her son. Naruto latched on to her and began to eat hungrily and Kushina watched him as he did eat. She could feel her strength slowly return and she looked out the window toward the front wall where her daughter was, "Minato-kun…"

* Twenty Minutes Later: Back with Minato *

Jiraiya returned right at that moment very exhausted and after thirty minutes of battling with the beast he should be and he was on both his knees trying to catch his breath reporting, "Well that didn't buy a lot of time." said the sannin.

Minato was sitting off to the side with a pink bundle in his lap using his right index finger to tap his daughter's cheek lightly. After a few minutes a giant earthquake shook the whole village. Minato, Jiraiya, Hiruzen, Kakashi, and Yugao all jumped into the air as the wall crumbled beneath them avoiding being taken down by the debris. The landed on a section that survived the quick but powerful earthquake looking to the village seeing that a few building crumbled and some were tilted from the shock of that earthquake.

Minato adjusted Haru so that he was holding her in his right arm saying, "It's time."

Jiraiya immediately did the same handsigns as before and he bit his lip again allowing blood to flow and he summoned out another giant cloud of smoke that cleared showing another giant toad. This one was a reddish-orange toad with red markings on it's body, a top blue kimono with the kanji for 'Gama' on his back, wrappings around his waist, a giant pipe in it's mouth, and a giant combat knife. The massive toad turned around and saw Minato and the others and a small baby and then he took his pipe out of his mouth and he put it in his wrappings, "So it's that time huh?"

Minato didn't answer, but he jumped up on the toad's head. Hiruzen also jumped on the toad's head fulfilling his part in the battle as the one to subdue the beast while Minato prepared the sealing. Minato opened up the blanket looking at Haru's stomach and he placed his hand on her stomach ready to perform the ritual. From where they stood they saw the Kyuubi clearly as it walked closer and closer it's eyes pure white and it's nine massive tails swinging violently in the air. Gamabunta started by jumping into the air.

With the beasts eyes on him Gamabunta pulled out his massive knife and tried to stab down onto it, but the Kyuubi jumped back avoiding getting stabbed. Sarutobi was already going through a number of handsigns shouting, "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Missile!" Sarutobi blew out a three streams of fire in the form of dragons. One came at the Kyuubi from the left, one from the right and finally the frontal assault one. All converged on the Kyuubi, but it roared loudly dispersing the flames easily.

Gamabunta jumped away from Kyuubi and shouted, "Hiruzen use that jutsu again! I'll use my Toad Oil Bullet!" Hiruzen agreed and they all saw the Kyuubi jump at them this time lashing out at Gamabunta. The giant toad got away and he leapt into the air shouting, "Toad Oil Bullet!" Hiruzen took a deep breath and shouted in the process of doing his jutsu, "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Missile!"

The two jutsu merged with one another and then Gamabunta and Hiruzen thought at the same time, "Fire Style: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!" The massive stream of chakra hit the Kyuubi as it lashed out at them engulfing it entirely. Gamabunta landed away from the massive bonfire saying, "Did it work?"

Right after saying that a hand shot out hitting Gamabunta on the left side of his face scratching him from the bottom of his eye to the top of his head. Gamabunta jumped back again from the pain.

Minato and Hiruzen shouted at the same time, "Gamabunta! You okay!" Gamabunta held his left side of his face saying, "I-I'm fine!" All three looked at the flames and saw them extinguished by red chakra. Once the flames disappeared they saw that some of the Kyuubi's fur was gone leaving it's muscles visible and it was injured, but it immediately began to heal at an alarming rate.

Hiruzen cursed, "Dammit, at this rate we'll never make progress. How much longer?" Minato finished with the preparations and said, "It's done. All I need to do is get closer to it. Boss can you do that?"

"Yeah I can get you close, but only for a moment. There are no second chances." said the giant toad. Minato took off his coat saying, "That's all I'll need. Sarutobi-sama I'll need you to hold it down while I perform the-" At that moment Minato felt a chop to the back of his neck and he could feel Haru ripped from his grip. He looked up and saw Jiraiya holding Haru and before he blacked out he saw Jiraiya hand the infant to Hiruzen who said, "I'm sorry Minato, but I needed you to do the necessary preparations. The village needs you, your family needs you, but most of all this little girl will need you. An old man dies so a little girl can live, now isn't that a better sacrifice? Goodbye Minato and please forgive me."

Minato reached out to Hiruzen, but he then blacked out entirely.

* Sometime Later *

Minato woke up groggily sitting up holding his head. He heard a voice say, "Lay back down." He looked up from his now seated position to see Kushina holding a pink bundle in her arms that was crying a little bit. His eyes widened as he pulled her into a hug saying, "Thank goodness your okay!"

She smiled and said, "Yes and I'm glad your okay as well." Minato pulled away from her asking, "May I see her?" Kushina complied and handed the infant to her father. Minato took her and removed a bit of the blanket and he could see the Eight Trigrams Seal on her belly. After awhile the seal disappeared as if it wan't there in the first place. Minato let out a sigh saying out loud, "The sealing was a success. Haru is now the new jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox."

He handed his daughter back to Kushina smiling, but then asked her, "Where is Sarutobi at?"

Kushina shook her head a then pointed over to a section of the village streets where the dead body of Hiruzen Sarutobi laid. Minato stood up with the help of Kakashi who saw his sensei wake up. Many villagers were crowded around the old Hokage crying and the ninjas in attendance were looking away taking this all in. Minato gritted his teeth again cursing under his breath, "Damn you Madara… Damn you to hell."

His wife barely caught those words, but she heard them. Jiraiya and Tsunade were comforting two young men both with spiky black hair. Minato looked around and asked, "Where's Naruto?"

"A few of the nurses said they would watch him. I wanted to see Haru and to come see you, but by the time we got here you were with Hiruzen and Gamabunta." said Kushina. Minato looked at his wife and then back to the people, he regretted being happy with the fact that he couldn't do his duty as kage to protect his villagers, but now this meant that he could go home to his family and watch his children grow up.

Minato started walking forward with Kushina and Kakashi helping him to the corpse of Hiruzen. Minato looked at the two young teenagers and said, "Asumaru, Asuma. I'm sorry for your loss. Really I am."

The older looking one of the two named Asumaru wiped his eyes of his tears saying, "It's okay, tou-san died doing what he wanted… Protecting his village that we all reside in. I'm sure that- no I'm positive that this is what he wanted. I don't hold it against you Hokage-sama." Minato placed his hand on the boy's shoulder saying "Arigatou."

Asuma looked at Minato and said, "Hokage-sama I don't hold it against you either. Tou-san was a ninja and he did what ninjas do in these situations, he's just like Sakumo Hatake now." Minato patted Asuma on the shoulder telling him thank you as well.

Everyone looked up and saw a few of the villagers pull out white sheets and they carefully wrapped the Sandaime Hokage in it and they picked him up gently taking him to the Hokage tower. Jiraiya took the two young Sarutobi ninjas with him so they could hold a vigil for the famed Hokage. Minato, Kushina, Kakashi, and Tsunade headed back to the hospital to go see the baby Naruto in the hospital.

* Konoha Hospital *

Kushina handed Haru to Minato again so he could look at the seal making sure it was properly done. As they walked down the hallway Kakashi came to a sudden stop. Tsunade, Kushina, and Minato noticed this and Minato handed his daughter to Kushina asking Kakashi, "What is it?"

"I smell blood… a lot of it." said Kakashi. The three veteran ninjas eyes widened and they dashed for the room Naruto was last in with Tsunade leading since she knew where it was and was currently faster than Kushina. It wouldn't seem bad that they could smell blood in a hospital, but they converted the academy into a makeshift hospital since the power was out in the hospital and the only reason Kushina had her baby there was because since it was considered off limits no one aside from a select few ninjas and personnel knew she was having the babies there.

Once outside the door both Tsunade and Minato kicked the door down and dashed inside, but came to a sudden halt when they saw both the nurses were on the ground slain laying in a pool of their own blood. The window was open and the wind was moving the curtains inside and Naruto's crib that he was using was tipped over and empty. He immediately ran over to it and he began to panic and he ransacked the room looking to see if the nurses maybe had time to hide his infant son.

Kushina and Kakashi made it to the room last and saw the two dead nurses in the room and Minato ransacking the room. Kushina saw Naruto's crib was knocked over and she fell to her knees fearing a mother's worse fears. Kakashi brought his hand to his nose and thought, "Ammonia? There's a lot of it in this room, but because of my heightened senses only I can smell it to this quantity. I see now, whoever did this covered their tracks with ammonia so that neither myself nor an Inuzuka can follow.'

After Minato ripped the room apart he looked at Kakashi and moved quickly to him grabbing his arms shaking him a bit shouting, "Kakashi you have to follow their scent now!"

"I can't." answered the ANBU. Kushina stood up and shouted, "Why not! My son is missing you have to!"

Tsunade shouted at both Minato and Kushina, "Enough! You two are both ninjas and you can't see this situation? I can smell it, just barely… Ammonia, but I'm guessing that Kakashi can smell it more than us. Right?" Kakashi looked down and nodded. Minato let go of Kakashi and and then shouted out, "Come out!"

Immediately after saying that two ANBU appeared from the hallway bowing. Minato shouted to both of them, "Follow any track that you can and bring my son back!" Both of the ANBU shouted, "Hai!" they immediately darted for the window jumping down and found faint footprints following them the best they could. Kakashi also decided to follow after the ninjas with the intent of bringing the newborn back.

Minato stood quietly in the room and he could hear Kushina choke out a few sobs while trying to comfort her crying baby. Tsunade walked over to Kushina and picked her up telling Minato, "You need to head to the tower and alert as many ANBU as you can, you can't don anything here. Now go!" After Tsunade said that Minato disappeared instantly using the jutsu he's famous for. Tsunade had Kushina bridal style and told her, "Don't worry, the gaki will bring little Naruto back. You'll see."

As Tsunade carried the young woman she could faintly hear Kushina mutter.

"It's my fault… It's my fault Naruto is gone… if I stayed he would've still been safe… It's my fault…"

Tsunade didn't say anything, no matter what she could've said it wouldn't help her anyway. The only thing she could do was take her home where their oldest son was waiting.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Flashback End *

Haru and Naruto listened to the whole story about what happened to the both of them ten years ago. Naruto was still calm, but now understood how he was with Kakuzu now and not with his family. Haru not he other hand had tears streaming down her cheek just now finding out that the Sandaime Hokage and her father sealed a dangerous entity into her.

Minato was still kneeling in front of them summing up, "That's basically the whole story. I had no choice but to seal the Kyuubi into you Haru-chan and we lost you Naruto-kun that same night, we're not sure who took you only that you came into Kakuzu's possession. I never wanted any of this to happen at all."

Haru remained silent taking this all in and trying to understand it all… Until Naruto spoke up did she look up from her lap, "So tou-san what your saying is that if I had been chosen that night to have the Kyuubi sealed inside me, then Haru-chan would be the one who was kidnapped? Which ever one of us was chose the fate was still the same. It seems that I was the likely candidate to have the beast sealed in to." said Naruto. At that moment Haru couldn't fathom what Naruto's life was like with Kakuzu nor could she imagine whether or not she would've been strong enough like Naruto to survive the ten years he did.

Haru got up from her seated position and said, "I-I have to be alone." she then headed out of the living room and up the stairs to her room.

Naruto told everyone, "We should tell our friends that this weekend isn't going to be a good night for a sleep over."

"I forgot about that. Well then I'll go and tell everyone before they leave." said Arashi who stood up and headed out of the living room to go tell the kids that the sleepover was called off.

Kushina was looking in the direction of the stairs leading to the second level of the house debating whether or not to give her the same talk like she was given years ago when asked to take on this responsibility. Minato looked at Naruto and asked him, "Naruto-kun do you hate me?"

Both Naruto and Kushina looked at the blonde man once he said that. Minato continued by saying, "I'll understand if you do. After all the reason why you would've been the candidate was because for a female jinchuriki the process of birth weakens the seal no matter what it is. I sought to stop that from happening to Haru and thought it a better idea to use you. Not only that, but you were kidnapped and it took ten years before we could see you and you ended up coming back of your own free will. You and Haru have suffered the most out of all of us and it was basically my doing… I should've been strong enough to kill that thing and not even make the decision to seal it into either of you and I wasn't strong enough to find you nor save you. So that's why I ask if you hate me?"

Naruto got up from his seat and moved in front of the man called his father and he said, "How can I hate you? Or do I even want to hate any of you? Despite how I was raised I couldn't hate someone who didn't have any control of the situation from the start… It's because I dispatched my emotions that I am able to think clearly, I have been gone ten years and yet all of you welcomed me with open arms, smiles, hugs, kisses, and a real family… How can I hate anyone for that? Haru-chan on the other hand will need you and kaa-san to talk to her more than me since it happened to her and not me."

Jiraiya listened to this boy who seemed years ahead of his own time wondering if Naruto's intentions were as pure as everyone believes. This boy so far has abilities above a child his age and with a mindset to match it.

"The kid has a point Minato." said Jiraiya.

Kushina and Minato looked at Jiraiya who said, "Besides I'm sure that if me, you, and Arashi look more into the Eight Trigrams Seal that we can improve it and make it failsafe so that she doesn't lose control like yesterday." Minato looked from Jiraiya to Naruto and he put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and pulled him into a hug tightening his grip every now and then. Once he let go he looked at Kushina and held his hand out for her to take it.

She did so and he told her, "Let's go talk to her. She says she wants to be alone, but that really means that she wants us to talk to her." Kushina wiped her eyes of a tear and said, "Kids can be so predictable." She looked at Naruto telling him, "We'll be back Naruto-kun."

The two soon went upstairs to talk to Haru which left Naruto and Jiraiya alone in the room who locked eyes with one another waiting for the other to speak first. However neither spoke and both finding their situation very awkward. A knock at the door brought both ninjas out of the awkward silence, Naruto went to the front door to answer it wondering who it was. He grabbed the doorknob and opened the door, after seeing who it was he greeted said person, "Hello Hinata-chan."

Hinata had shown up with another Hyuuga who was her escort to make sure she got home okay. Jiraiya went to investigate who it was and saw Hiashi's daughter Hinata and another Hyuuga he assumed was the escort, so he walked over to ask why they were there when Arashi went out to tell everyone that the sleepover was called off.

After a brief explanation the Hyuuga bodyguard bowed and apologized and said that he'd take Hinata home. Naruto however said, "No it's okay Hinata-chan is already here and it'd be rude to send her off after she just arrived." The Hyuuga princess was blushing a bit and looked away from Naruto saying, "W-Will it be okay? I don't want to be a bother if the sleepover was called off."

Naruto nodded and said, "It'll be okay." With that said the Hyuuga guard bowed to Naruto and Jiraiya telling both of them that he'll come back tomorrow in the evening to pick Hinata up and take her home. The three watched the guard leave then went inside into the living room. Naruto took Hinata's backpack and placed it off in the corner of the living room. Jiraiya walked over to Naruto and whispered in his ear, "Hey don't tell Hinata or anyone else about what you've learned today. We still don't know how the kids your age will take the news about Haru. Got it?" Naruto nodded understanding what he was saying.

Hinata sat down on the couch and asked, "Where's Haru-chan at?" Naruto walked over to Hinata and sat down leaving half an arms length gap between the two answering her question, "Haru is upstairs and they should-" Naruto was cut short when they heard footsteps come downstairs and they could clearly see Kushina, Minato, and Haru come down all of them smiling as usual.

All three of them saw Hinata sitting down. Kushina asked, "Oh Hinata-chan is here? Arashi didn't tell you?"

Naruto told his mother, "Arashi-nii didn't tell her possibly because he didn't run into them on his way to tell everyone." Minato rubbed the back of his head telling Hinata, "Well since your here you can still stay the night."

Haru walked over to Naruto and stood in front of him with sadness in her eyes and she seemed to be fighting with something inside of her. He could see that she wanted to tell him something, but she was holding back. He then saw his mother walk up behind the blonde girl saying, "Go ahead Haru-chan ask." Haru looked down for a moment, then back at him asking, "N-Naruto-nii… Are you mad at me? Kaa-san and tou-san told me what really happened yesterday and I was wondering if you were mad at me for what I did to you?" Like a few times before there was a moment of silence.

"I don't blame you for what happened." said Naruto, "If I can understand everything that's happened and what I was told then I can't hold you responsible for what happened." Naruto grabbed his side where the gash marks used to be rubbing it slightly, "I'm still alive and no one was hurt. That's all I could ask for. So leave it alone and stop blaming yourself. Okay?"

Haru's eyes lit up and she jumped at Naruto hugging him telling him thank you. After she was done Minato told his kids, "Haru-chan, Naruto-kun there is still one more thing that I wanted to tell you." Haru stopped hugging Naruto and sat down no the other side of him leaving him in the middle of both her and Hinata. Minato put his hands behind his back and and announced, "I've decided along with your kaa-san, Arashi, and Jiraiya that… The four of us will be training you from here on out until you can no longer learn what we can teach."

The first one to react was of course Haru who jumped up shouting, "YES! Special training with my whole family! The only down side is Ero-Sennin will be training us too!" Jiraiya shouted, "Would you stop calling me that!"

Kushina asked Naruto, "How does that sound Naruto-kun?" Naruto cracked a grin telling her, "Sounds fun."

Happy with both of his kids responses he told them, "Well training will begin the day after school and even on the weekends so be prepared. Today and tomorrow will be your only off days for a long time, so get all the fun out of you systems." He started walking away telling them that he was going into his office to get some work done and Jiraiya followed after him to get some work done as well. Kushina headed off into the kitchen to make something to eat for the three kids thinking they might be hungry.

This left Haru, Naruto, and Hinata in the living room alone. Haru started jumping up and down shouting, "Yes we get to do some extra ultra special training that will definitely make us stronger! I can't wait to start!" Hinata was smiling and giggling at her friends antics then looked over to Naruto who put his unreadable expression back on. Haru looked to Hinata and said, "Hinata-chan! You have to promise me and Naruto that you'll do your best and that you'll get stronger to!"

Hinata was startled when her name was suddenly called out and Haru shouted to both Naruto and Hinata, "Let's make a promise to each other right now! That the three of us will be so strong that we'll be called the New Sannin of Konoha when we get older!" She put her hand out switching her gaze from Naruto to Hinata and back again. Hinata slowly but surely put her hand on top of Haru's hand and said, "Hai. I promise that I'll do my best."

Both the girls looked at Naruto and they both gave him a reassuring smile. Naruto cracked another grin and he tossed his hand on top of Hinata's saying, "Okay I promise that I'll definitely get stronger." Haru smiled and she pushed her hand in the air which caused Naruto and Hinata's hands to fly into the air as Haru shouted, "It's settled then!"

The three later heard their names called from the kitchen by Kushina, "Kids I made you guys some snacks!" Haru, grabbed Hinata's hand and dragged her along and on instinct and reflex Hinata grabbed Naruto's hand dragging him along as well. She blushed furiously when she looked at her hand as her grip was very tight around Naruto's hand, but then she felt Naruto's grip tighten.

Naruto felt strange to say the least, but to say the most he couldn't quite figure out what this feeling was. This was just another foreign emotion that he'd yet to figure out what it was.

* Later that Night *

Naruto, Hinata, and Haru got some sleeping bags and converted the living room into a kind of fort. They went to the Hokage's training ground and taught Naruto a few kids games, they got him to talk more about what he did in the wild, and they showed him a great view from the cliffside of the Hokage monument. It was a long day and despite what Haru found out she never could hate her family, nor could she hate anyone for that matter, but she knew that she had an important duty to her village to protect everyone from the monster living inside of her and to become stronger enough so that one day she could destroy the beast so no one else would have to go through this as well.

The three were sleeping in the living room. Naruto was in the middle, Haru was sleeping to his right, and Hinata was sleeping to his left. Haru the little mischief maker was still awake not being able to sleep still a bit excited to do her special training with her family. She turned her head to see Naruto and Hinata sleeping peacefully and she noticed the arms length gap between the two and an idea popped into her head. She got out of bed slowly and she silently reached over Naruto's bed and grabbed the edge of Hinata's sleeping bag, gently pulling it so as not to wake the sleeping beauty. She pulled Hinata's sleeping bag so that she was sleeping right next to her brother.

She started to lean back away from Naruto and she looked down to see if he was still sleeping, but he wasn't… There Naruto was looking straight up at her asking, "What are you doing?" Haru smiled innocently and told him, "You'll see… in three.. two… one…. Now."

After she finished her countdown Naruto heard Hinata move and he turned his head to look at her and noticed that she rolled over in her sleep and her arm was moving unconsciously and her hand found his chest, she began to pull herself closer to him until she was practically hugging him. Haru started to giggle telling her brother, "She's a bit clingy in her sleep which is why I put up with sleeping by her whenever we have sleepovers. Night nii-chan." Haru got back in her blankets and rolled on her side facing the opposite direction.

Naruto laid there with Hinata holding onto him and he said, "She knew about this the whole time, that's probably why she was pushing for me to sleep in the middle. I can't believe I fell for it… must be getting rusty." He turned his head to look at the peaceful Hinata who looked like she didn't have a care in the world. Naruto moved his hand up to his chest to where his heart was feeling it beat at an unusual rate. He took some deep breaths to calm himself down, which worked for a moment. Naruto resigned himself and he gently closed his eyes and went to sleep wondering even more about this foreign feeling.

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Yeah now the real stuff can start somewhat! I don't really have a lot to say other than today is my father's birthday, then my unle's is five days after that, then my grandfather's birthday is two days after that! So a lot of birthdays are coming up. Anyway hope you all have an awesome summer and I'll see you all on the next update! Peace!


	14. Graduation & the Marine NinSquad

Chapter Fourteen: Graduation and the Marine Nin-Squad

I had so much fun last Friday till now. I went on a camping trip with my family and hella friends over at Ice House in California. I got this finished after I got home, but I fell asleep right after I took a shower and fell on my bed. Hope you all will like this chapter and I will update my other story as quickly as possible. Peace.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Konoha Two Years Later *

Two years after Naruto and Haru found out about what happened to them the day they were born they devoted themselves to constantly train and become stronger. For Haru it was to prove that she didn't need to rely on the Kyuubi's chakra and that she is Haru and not the demon that attacked the village and for Naruto it was just his will to get stronger so he could fight Kakuzu on equal ground. Minato, Kushina, Arashi, and Jiraiya have committed themselves to teaching the two kids all that they could so they would be prepared when they became certified ninjas of Konoha.

However unbeknownst to everyone in the village and even the boy who's body he was renting in he was still living undetected and receiving the Hero's Water from Kakuzu to enhance Naruto's chakra capacity making the boy's reserve higher than any recorded gennin in the elemental lands… aside from his twin sister of course.

The rest of their friends trained their hardest so as not to get left behind by the two blonde ninjas, even the lazy Shikamaru would indulge himself in constant hours of training. Making a name for themselves in their class and among ninjas who looked forward to the graduation was Naruto, Haru, Sasuke, and Sai. The four would be in constant battles with each other desperately trying to one up the other, but no matter how hard they tried Naruto always came out on top defeating his opponents to the point where they could hardly fight back. Naruto showed almost no mercy to those who he didn't like or respect namely Sai and Sasuke. With today the final days of their exams the day was longer and the spars were more difficult than before.

Passing the written portions of the test with high scores were Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Sai, and Shino. Passing the physical exercises was Naruto, Choji, Sasuke, Kiba, Sai, and Haru. Passing the weapons exams was Naruto, Haru, Sai, and Sasuke. The final exam was Accuracy using kunais with Naruto, Haru, Sasuke, Hinata, and Sai passing with high scores. Shikamaru barely passed a few since he didn't care for ranking nor did he want to be noticed by his peers once he graduated, but he received an earful from Haru and Ino who lectured him about him not putting his all into these exams. The final was the sparring matches, everyone was matched up and the fights were commendable…

Naruto stood in the center of the training ground wearing a black long sleeve ninja shirt where the sleeves were long enough to cover the back of his hands and the sleeves had metal plates protecting the back of both his hands, this shirt was also fit with a high collar and the red swirl not the back of the shirt. He also had on black pants, sandals, his ninja pouch strapped to his waist, and a two swords that were using the same nylon sheath that was strapped to his back, both blades were made from a special chakra metal and a black finish with wooden grips and no hilt weapons specially made by Kensei. His outfit was complements from Jia Li that she customized for Naruto.

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment and waited, soon he could hear footsteps approach him from all directions except for above and below. His eyes snapped open and he ducked, dodged, and countered all the punches and kicks that were thrown at him. Naruto kicked at one attacker making them disappear in a puff of smoke, turning around quick he grabbed a punch that was thrown at him and he performed a judo throw sending the attacker into another making both disappear in a puff of smoke like the first. This continued for a moment before the ones surrounding him was down to one. Naruto looked at the one he was facing asking, "Your not finished yet are you Haru-chan?"

Haru stood opposite Naruto with her blonde hair tied into two long braids instead of one, she was wearing a long sleeve blue shirt, a dark orange sleeve less jacket with fur lining the collar and the red swirl on the back of it, blue ninja shorts, blue ninja sandals, three ninja scroll holsters sewn into the right side of her shorts, and brown fingerless leather gloves with a metal plate on the backhand of the gloves also a Jia Li custom outfit. Haru was smiling then she called out, "Not done yet!" Haru dashed at Naruto pulling out a scroll that was on the side of her pants unraveling it she made a handsign making smoke appear from the scroll revealing a bo staff.

Once she got close enough she began swinging the bo at Naruto not wildly, but the way a pro would use it. Naruto however trained with Haru long enough to know how she fights, so evading her attacks was quite easy for him. Haru surprised Naruto when she sent wind chakra through the staff swinging it from above her head down onto Naruto.

He jumped to the side evading it, but saw when the bo staff hit the ground it shattered the ground easily. Naruto pulled out a kunai from his pouch and charged wind chakra through it as well and the two went back and forth since their weapons were evened with their wind natures protecting the other from being damaged. Haru tried to jab Naruto with the bo staff, but he countered by making the hole in his kunai handle go through the bo staff guiding it all the way till he punched Haru in her face making her fly back and making her let go of her weapon in the process. Naruto let the kunai go and he took a firm grip of the weapon swinging it around so that the kunai stayed on the edge of the staff. After swinging it around for sometime he slammed the weapon down toward Haru stopping when the kunai was aimed right at her throat.

Suddenly clapping could be heard and Naruto tossed the weapon to the side and held his hand out for Haru to take. Not wanting to look like a poor sport Haru took her brother's hand and stood up straight, they both looked at Iruka and Mizuki who was one of the new teachers and their classmates who continued to cheer them on. Iruka had a clipboard in his hand and said, "You two did fantastic."

Mizuki also praised, "Well what did you expect Iruka, they are the Yondaime Hokage's kids." After the evaluation was finished Iruka had Naruto and Haru line up with the rest of the class. (Everyone in the Rookie Nine are wearing the same outfits. Sai is wearing a custom outfit that I will explain later)

Iruka told all the kids, "Well your conditioning is done and all of you pass." All of the students except Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Shikamaru, and Shino let out sighs of relief. Iruka then told all of the kids to follow him into the classroom. As they walked to the classroom Haru, Naruto and their friends except for Sasuke were walking in a large group.

Kiba had his dog Akamaru sitting on top of his head with his arms behind his head saying in annoyance, "Man my match with Usuke was no fun at all." Shino also commented on his match looking at Shikamaru as he said, "At least your match was eventful. More than I could say about my match with Shikamaru."

"It would've been a drag to fight you seriously Shino, your far stronger than you look." said the lazy Nara. Choji was chowing down on some freshly opened chips saying, "I lost to Hinata-chan, but it was a fun fight." Hinata thanked Choji giving him words of encouragement, "I'm sure you would've beaten me if you kept up your attack."

Sakura said out loud, "The only matches that were worth mentioning were Naruto-kun and Haru-chan's fight and Sasuke-kun's fight against Sai-kun." Haru rubbed the back of her head, "Yeah, but nii-san still won. He hasn't lost not one fight yet."

"That's because Naruto-kun is unbeatable. He even beat that kid who graduated last year when our class had the friendly fight with last years graduating class." said Ino. Naruto walked in silence a little bit ahead of his friends listening to them. Haru looked ahead and saw Sai was slowing down till he was walking the same pace as Naruto.

They all watched waiting to hear Sai's next insult to Naruto. Over the school years Sai has been a tad bit more friendly, but he's taken to calling everyone a weird name. Naruto, Shikamaru, Shino, and Sasuke were being the better men basically ignoring whatever he said, but with Choji, Kiba, Haru, Ino, and Sakura with short fuses they would attempt to hurt the pale faced boy. Hinata like the Naruto and a few others ignored him, but she didn't like how he would constantly call her friends hurtful names.

Sai kept his creepy smile plastered on his face passing conversation with Naruto, "So dick less have you any idea how strong you really are?" Naruto kept his eyes glued forward ignoring the boy's bad habit of calling him that. "I think that out of the few ninjas here, you, myself, and even the Uchiha are strong enough to be inducted into the ANBU training for gifted children."

Naruto looked at Sai as he walked saying, "Not interested." Sai looked at Naruto with his eyes closed saying, "My you don't seem like the one to want to hang around those weaker than yourself. Hear me-"

Sai was interrupted when Naruto spoke, "I'm sorry Sai, I think your confusing me with someone who gives a shit. After this I'm not gonna say it again, 'I am not interested'." Naruto said the last part with seriousness. Sai's happy face didn't falter instead he said, "Okay. I know when enough is enough." Sai then sped up his pace catching up with the rest of the class.

Haru sped up to her brother asking, "What was that all about?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders saying, "Nothing he says is even worth mentioning or repeating." Haru somewhat agreed and they continued to the classroom. Once inside everyone took their assigned seats sitting quietly and they saw Iruka and Mizuki leave the room. Everyone knew that today was their last days in the academy so they expected to have to do a final exam portion in order to become ninjas.

The whole class erupted into chatter with everyone wondering what the final exam would require them to do. Naruto was sitting quietly with his arms crossed thinking, 'This is it? This is how everyone becomes a ninja in Konoha? Or is there something else?' Naruto had his suspicions that there was more to them graduating than just acing the academy otherwise anyone would become ninjas. He glanced around the room knowing full well that a few kids were just there because they thought ninja life would be fun and they could use it as an excuse to do things ordinary citizens couldn't. Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when Iruka came back in with a box.

Iruka opened the box up and pulled out a single headband telling everyone, "Well this is it. Today we'll see if your worthy enough to wear one of these." A few of the kids leaned over their desks with their eyes sparkling after seeing the headband. Iruka placed it on the dest, then he reached back into the box pulling out more of them making rows of leaf headbands until the box was empty. Once he was done he announced, "Okay all of you will wait outside of the classroom and we'll call you all in one at a time to do one more final practice to see if you'll officially become a ninja of Konoha."

Mizuki came back in with a few papers handing them to Iruka. He then told the class to wait outside so that they could begin. The students did as they were told and went to wait in the hallways so they could get their graduation over and done with.

After the kids were done Iruka looked at one of the papers that Mizuki handed to him and said, "Is this true? Sai gets an immediate pass?" Mizuki nodded telling him, "I received that from an ANBU ninja. When I asked what was going on he told me that it wasn't of any concern of mine and just to let Sai's sensei know."

Iruka crumbled up the paper and stuck it into the inside of his flack jacket so that no one else would see it. Shaking the uneasy feeling off he had Mizuki call in the students so they could begin, but the issue with Sai would have to be told to the Hokage if he knew at all.

* One Hour Later *

The doors leading to the academy suddenly burst open with students running out shouting and screaming with joy that they were finally ninjas. The parents of these now ninjas were waiting outside congratulating their kids on a job well done and that they'll make their village proud. Naruto and the others walked out happy that they became ninjas, but since they were ninjas they needed to stop acting wild and needed to be more mature. Everyone had their headbands tied so that people would see that they are now ninjas.

Shikamaru had his tied around this left arm, Shino's was tied on his forehead along with Kiba and Sasuke, Choji had his made into a bandana that had two holes at the top letting his hair stick out, Ino wrapped hers around her waist, Sakura had hers tied to the top of her head to tie her hair, Hinata and Haru had theirs tied loosely around their necks, and Naruto had his tied tight around his right leg.

When they got outside they already saw their families waiting outside for them. Kushina saw Haru and Naruto walk to her direction and she immediately began to gush over them hugging the both of them saying, "Oh my babies became ninjas!" Haru was trying to breath while saying, "Kaa-san stop… Your embarrassing us…" Kushina ignored her daughter's words and continued hugging them for a moment before finally stopping.

"Your tou-san said that he's sorry that he can't come and congratulate you since he's away on business, but he says he has a surprise for both of you once he returns. Your brother Arashi said the same thing after he gets back with tou-san." said Kushina happily. Naruto turned his head and saw Sai walk out last holding his headband instead of wearing it. Sai made a glance at Naruto before jumping off into an unknown direction with no one else really noticing him.

Naruto looked back at his mother and noticed that she was looking into a different direction, as he looked he saw Haru talking with Hinata and her bodyguard. He assumed that Haru was asking Hinata to come join them at their home to hang out. Naruto was well aware of what happened to Hinata's mother and how her father isn't really the most carrying of people. Naruto later thought, 'Kakuzu wasn't much of a father figure neither, but everyone has their own ways of coping with families.'

Haru suddenly looked more happy and she took Hinata's hand and dragged her over to where Naruto and Kushina were saying, "Kaa-san, Hinata-chan is coming over for dinner. Is that okay?" Naruto and Kushina looked at Haru with Naruto saying, "You know your suppose to ask kaa-san if we can have visitors before you actually invite them?"

Kushina tapped Naruto on the head saying, "It's okay. It's Hinata-chan after all." Hinata bowed to Kushina thanking her for allowing her to come back to their home. The three of them walked back to the mansion and asked Naruto first, "Naruto-kun, why didn't you and Haru-chan eat breakfast this morning?"

"I wanted to, but Haru broke into my room shouting that we needed to leave and I only had time to grab a piece of toast." answered Naruto.

"I didn't want to be late! After all today would be our last day at the academy and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss a thing!" shouted Haru. Hinata told Naruto and Haru, "You two could've shared my lunch with me. Our cook always makes me more that I can eat."

Naruto told Hinata, "I didn't want to be a bother." Hinata responded to his answer, "It wouldn't have been a bother. Right Haru-chan?"

Haru shouted, "Dang it! I could've had some elegant food!" Haru pretended like she was pulling out her hair. Hinata and Kushina started to giggle at the little blonde girl's antics.

Though Haru's happy expression changed to sadness when she said, "Things won't be like they used to be since we won't see a lot of each other once we get our teams tomorrow though." Hinata seemed to get a bit gloomy as well as she looked at Naruto wondering if she'll be on the same team as him.

"Don't worry Haru-chan. It's not like you won't see your friends ever again, I'm sure your sensei's will still give you time off every once in awhile." said Kushina. Haru lifted her spirits so she wouldn't bring anyone else down saying loudly, "Your right kaa-san! Come on guys lets get home so we can eat!" With that said they walked behind Haru all the way to the mansion. Kushina turned her head around and saw someone duck behind the wall to avoid being seen. Kushina sighed and she clearly saw who it was, but she didn't do anything since the one watching them wouldn't want her help anyway.

Peeking from behind the wall was Sasuke Uchiha. His eyes would shift between Naruto and Haru, then to Kushina thinking, 'It's not fair.' After he saw them turn the corner he put his hands in his pocket and walked away toward the old Uchiha complex that only he and his brother use now.

* Somewhere Underground of Konoha *

Sai walked into a dimly lit room wearing a black ninja shirt, black pants, a gray backpack and his ninja pouch secured around his waistline. He took a few steps before kneeling before an elderly man sitting before him. The man had his back facing the boy with a small table in front of him and a blank scroll rolled out, he pulled out a brush and was practicing his calligraphy on the blank scroll. He had long black shaggy hair, his right eye was bandaged up, he has a distinct 'x' shaped scar on his chin, he wears a white shirt with a brown robe over top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder. He kept his cane close to him which was laying down where he sat.

The man didn't even turn to look at Sai, but he spoke in a kind of gruff voice, "Well? What did the boy say?" Sai's smile disappeared as he reported, "He is very stern on his decision. Once he makes it, he won't change it. His decision was no." The elderly man grabbed his cane and he stood up carefully. He walked over to Sai and said, "Your mission is complete. You can go back to how you were before I sent you on this mission. Go."

Sai bowed his head almost touching the ground then disappeared into the darkness. Out from the wall appeared a man wearing a black cloak and a porcelain mask, he bowed as well asking, "Danzo-sama, the Hokage is making his way back from his meeting with the Fire Daimyo."

Danzo looked at his subordinate saying, "The chunnin exams draw ever so closer, the gennin graduated today, and if my intel is right then Orochimaru will make his appearance soon. We must prepare." The ANBU ninja agreed then faded back into the shadows. Danzo turned back around and sat down where he left his unfinished work at. He placed his cane to his side and picked up his brush and continued doing his calligraphy.

* Five Hours Later: Land of Fire *

Minato and his escorts were getting closer to home after their long trip back from the meeting with the Fire Daimyo. Minato was sitting inside a large Japanese Palanquin and it was being carried by two of Minato's large Toads. Arashi was walking alongside one of the toads along with Hana and her ninken. Jiraiya was sitting inside of the palanquin with Minato discussing the overall meeting.

Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai were next to the palanquin so they could protect their kage should something happen. Minato was relaxing a little saying to Jiraiya, "Man that wasn't fun at all. I missed Naruto and Haru's graduation for a meeting that we could've talked about using messengers or messenger birds."

"Yeah, but no one said that a kage's life would be easy. Sometimes you'll have to go and meet with the daimyo every now and then. Don't worry you can shower them with praise once we return to Konoha. Man it will feel good to be back home and finish up my research." said Jiraiya who had a blank book out and started writing a few ideas for a new story in it.

Minato sighed saying to his former sensei, "Maybe your not the greatest influence on Haru and Naruto after all." Jiraiya didn't hear what he said asking what he said, but Minato waved it off wanting nothing more than to get home. Jiraiya stopped writing for a moment asking, "Your worried about the team Naruto is placed on aren't you?"

"Yeah somewhat." said Minato. He pulled out a scroll from the inside of his coat and unraveled it so he could unseal it's contents. Inside were two packets that he handed to Jiraiya. The toad sannin took the two packets and read the name off of the first one, "Shi Kyoukon… Huh, so this kid was the only survivor of the Horo Desert incident seventeen years ago?" Minato nodded as Jiraiya continued, "Says here that he's still a gennin despite graduating a year earlier than the rest of his class. He's basically still considered a 'Dead Last' with a record like this."

"He is very shy, but when push comes to shove then that's when his true nature arises. His old gennin teams don't like being with him since he doesn't participate with them and the senseis try to stick with him, though it never works out in the end. Shi is seventeen now and he still doesn't like being on a team where he doesn't respect his team nor his sensei. So we had him suspended for the past year and tomorrow will be the first time he's put his headband on since his suspension." said Minato.

Jiraiya shifted to the next packet reading the name, "Takako Ochiai. Another dead last so it seems. Fifteen years old and she graduated from the academy two years ago, was held back once because of lack of control of not only her basic ninjutsu, but was horrible when it came to weapons and intel gathering. Finally graduated by the skin of her teeth just passing a bit above average last year. Hmmm… Ochiai… Why does that sound familiar?"

"Remember, she was one of the few that survived Orochimaru's experiments and her family died during the experiments leaving her as one of the only survivors in the former Song country." said Minato again. Jiraiya then remembered and said, "Oh yeah, her parents were the main movement in utilizing sound with ninjutsu. I can't believe it's been fourteen years since then." Glancing through to a certain part he brings up, "What the? They just found out a month before she graduates that she had a suppression seal on her body?"

Minato nodded, "Yeah, they found out when she got injured training and found it at the bottom of her right foot. After that was released her chakra and everything else flowed normally. So for two years she's been trying to advance to chunnin, but with a short fuse and a major superiority complex makes it very difficult for me to want to give her a shot at the Chunnin Exams."

After reading a bit more on both Shi and Takako he told Minato, "So we have Naruto Namikaze, Shi Kyoukon, and Takako Ochiai with their sensei being Ibiki Morino. That's a scary combination when you think about it."

Minato sighed and told Jiraiya, "They will even things out with Naruto eventually. Iruka told me that while Naruto's training with the other students has gotten better he's taken to talking down to those he doesn't like or isn't his friend. Ibiki thinks that if Naruto was on a normal gennin team then the team would fall apart what with Naruto tying to be the alpha and I'm afraid that on a mission that if the team breaks down that they might loose their lives. At least this way he can keep Shi and Takako in line long enough and probably even get Naruto on the right track as well and show him that teamwork is essential to survival. I know this plan makes almost no sense, but it's all I can do so far without showing favoritism."

Jiraiya looked out of the small window inside the carrier saying, "Hope everything goes according to plan."

* Two Hours Later: Hokage Mansion *

Hinata was picked up by a family member an hour ago since her father wanted to at least congratulate her on getting her headband. Kushina knew how far Hiashi's courtesy went and she expected Hinata to get the 'don't disappoint me or the clan lecture' again. However it was none of her business, she's more than happy to talk to Hinata and all, but she wasn't going to do any unnecessary action… Unless it called for her.

Naruto was in the living room doing a few push ups, sit ups, squats and a few other exercise to keep his body in top shape. Haru was watching her brother and was drifting to her thoughts about what her team would be. She hoped she could be in the same team as her friends so that she wouldn't have to spend a lot of time of synching with new people. He wouldn't admit it, but Naruto was also curious about what team he would be placed on tomorrow. Their father had already told both kids that he wasn't going to tell them who their teammates are since that wouldn't be fair and it wasn't something a kage should do.

The two suddenly heard a shriek come from the kitchen and they both dashed for the kitchen each of the two carrying a kunai in both hands. When they got there they saw their mother backed up against a wall pressed up against their father and their lips were locked together. Haru immediately covered her eyes dropping the kunai in the process shouting, "That's gross! Get a room!" Unlike Haru, Naruto put both his kunai away in his ninja pouch and left the entrance way to the kitchen. Haru walked away with her hands still covering her eyes following Naruto's footsteps.

Minato broke away from his wife watching the state he put her in, "Miss me Ku-chan?" asked Minato. Kushina regained her senses and lightly punched him on the arm saying, "Baka." She turned back to cleaning the kitchen telling her husband, "I take it Arashi took Hana out on another date?" Minato took of his coat and held it under his right arm saying, "Yeah, after I dismissed them the two left quickly."

"They aren't really considerate with the fact that their parents know what they are doing." said Kushina, "We surely weren't like that at their age." She grabbed a few plates and put them away in the cupboards.

Minato smiled at her then headed into the living room finding his youngest children in there sitting quietly. Minato took a seat in front of both of them saying, "Congratulations on becoming official Konoha ninjas. I'm very proud of both of you and I have a surprise for the both of you as well." Both the kids watched as he took a few steps back and he they saw him bite his bottom lip letting some blood ooze out, he ran his thumb across his lip getting the blood on it and he performed the summoning jutsu shouting, "Summoning Jutsu!"

As with many summoning jutsu a cloud of smoke appears followed by the summoned animal. Which in this case was a large orange toad with turquoise flame designs on his body, he has white wrappings round his arms and waist, and a beaded necklace with the kanji for 'Loyalty' on it. In it's mouth was a large red and green scroll. The toad stuck out it's tongue letting the scroll roll on the floor. Minato used his foot to stop it then he sat down and unraveled it himself, by this time Haru was leaning practically over it waiting in anticipation and Naruto was still in his same seat watching everything unfold before him. After Minato unrolled the giant scroll the twins saw that the scroll had names written on it with five finger print markings under each name.

Haru looked at it and then she pointed to a few names saying, "Hey look! Ero-Sennin's name is in here… Hey so is tou-san and Arashi-nii!" Naruto was glancing at the scroll and saw the names of Jiraiya, Minato, and Arashi written in it just as Haru said.

"Well that's because this is the summoning contract that we signed with the toads. It allows us to summon them whenever we need their help, Gama here is the keeper of the scroll and the other keeper is Jiraiya." said Minato. Haru jumped up from her seated position and shouted, "Do we get to sign the contract and get toads of our own!"

At this point Kushina walked into the living room and saw the toad Gama in the living room and came to the conclusion that Naruto and Haru's gift was the summoning contract. She sat on the couch watching the event before her.

Minato told them, "Yes, you guys get to have the toads as a summons." Minato held out his hand saying, "All you need to do is write your name on an empty slot in your own blood, then mark your fingerprints in your own blood beneath where you wrote your name."

Haru sat down in a meditating position, then she bit her right thumb and started to write her name in the empty slot next to where Arashi wrote his, after that she placed her fingerprints in blood under her name. After she was done she motioned for Naruto to come do it as well. Naruto got up from where he was sitting and proceeded to do the same thing Haru did both writing his name down and placing his fingerprints in blood.

After Minato saw that both of his kids put their names down he rolled up the scroll and gave it to Gama, who disappeared soon after getting it back. "Okay kids now lets go into the training yard and try out your summons." said Minato. Haru jumped up immediately and ran for the door while Naruto, Minato, and Kushina walked to the training ground.

Both Kushina and Minato sat on the edge of the patio looking at Naruto and Haru who were standing in front of them on the grass of the training ground. Minato instructed, "Now the seals required to do the summons is: boar, dog, bird, monkey, and sheep. You should both know what you'll need to do the summons right?"

"You need to offer up a small amount of blood and use a considerable amount of chakra in the process." said Naruto. Minato nodded and then said, "That's right Naruto-kun. Alright let's see what you guys can do. Go ahead try it out."

Haru and Naruto bit their same thumbs that they used to make the contract making the fresh blood come out and then they rubbed the blood that was on their thumb on to the palm of their other hand, they both in unison did the necessary handsigns, lastly they slammed their hand with the blood on their palms onto the ground shouting at the same time, "Summoning Jutsu!"

The summoning seals appeared underneath their hands followed by the smoke. Naruto and Haru stood up and watched as the smoke cleared revealing what they summoned.

From Haru's summons it was a small toad that was quite plump, he had a yellow body with orange markings, a blue vest with the kanji for 'Oil' on his back. His first words to Haru was, "Hi. Do you have any snacks?"

Naruto's summons appeared to be a toad of equal height with a reddish-orange body with dark blue markings on his body, a blue vest as well with the kanji for 'Oil' on his back as well. Naruto's also spoke saying, "Yo!"

Both the kids looked at their summons and Haru was depressed the she didn't get to summon a giant toad like her father. They both heard their father and mother chuckle and Haru shot them a glare thinking she was being made fun of. Her father explained, "You guys did great. It's been a long time Gamakichi, Gamatatsu, the last time I saw you two you were both still tadpoles."

The reddish-orange toad named Gamakichi raised his hand to the Hokage waving, "Oh, hey Minato-sama! These your kids?" Minato nodded. The yellow toad Gamatatsu also waved, but he looked to Kushina asking, "Kushina-sama do you have any snacks?"

Kushina giggled telling the little toad, "No, but I can go make something right now. I'll be back." With that she headed back inside to go fetch some snacks. Minato stood up as well telling his kids, "Be proud that you both summoned them." Haru started waving her arms in the air shouting, "They are small! How can we fight enemies if these two aren't even close to touching our kneecaps!"

Gamakichi hopped over to Haru shouting, "You saying I'm small?" Haru kneeled down shouting at the toad, "No I'm saying Santa's thin, of course I'm calling you small because your small! You might as well be a shrimp summons!" Both Naruto and Gamatatsu watched the scene unfold before them. Minato broke up the yelling by simply saying, "Haru-chan that's not nice. Both Gamakichi and Gamatatsu here are the son's of the boss toad Gamabunta. They might not look it, but like you guys they'll definitely get stronger as well. Just get to know them better." Minato headed inside after saying that.

Haru and Gamakichi glared at each other one last time before she went over to Gamatatsu and sat down in front of him. Gamakichi hopped over toward Naruto who in turn sat down in front of him. Naruto held out his index finger to Gamakichi saying, "Hello, my name is Naruto Namikaze."

"Yo, my names Gamakichi. Nice ta meet ya." Gamakichi reached out and shook Naruto's finger.

Haru did the same thing Naruto did and said, "Hi, the names Haru Namikaze." Gamatatsu shook her finger saying, "Hello, my name is Gamatatsu… Do you have any snack?" Haru jumped up immediately shouting, "Is food all you think about! I swear your as bad as Choji!"

Minato watched from the sliding door leading into the house chuckling. He then went inside to relax before it got to late and he would need to go to sleep.

* Konoha Blue Moon Restaurant *

This restaurant was for ninjas on their days off or who just finished their mission so there was no worry about dressing up. Sitting in a table in a corner was Arashi and Hana who just got done eating their food and were now enjoying the other's company. Many of Arashi's fangirls didn't like the fact that he chose Hana over many of them, but Hana didn't like the fact that rumors were going around that with Arashi as the oldest son of the Yondaime that there was talk of making the Namikaze from a simple family into a clan. So that meant that if the rumors were true then he would register with the C.R.A. (Clan Restoration Act).

Arashi also overheard a few of the rumors and some concerning that Itachi was going to rebuild the Uchiha clan as well and he knew about Itachi's love interest within the Uchiha clan that he himself handled personally. He knew that some of these issues would come up sooner or later, but he put Hana's worries to rest telling her that rumors were nothing more than that, 'rumors' with no hard facts to back them up. That helped her a little, but it didn't satisfied her enough until she found out the rumors were false.

Both Arashi and Hana were wearing their Konoha uniform as was the rest of the ninjas in the restaurant.

"You know we've been going out for awhile now and I have never asked this." said Arashi. Hana tilted her head a bit wondering what he was going to ask, "What made you like me? I mean I can guess a basic reason why, but I don't know what really made you attracted to me?"

Hana teased him, "Maybe I'm just one of those fangirls who wants to get in good with your father." After she said that both Arashi and Hana started to laugh, then they calmed down after a minute with her answering truthfully, "But in all seriousness I didn't really care for you. I thought you and Itachi were just two showoffs since you were both geniuses and were just doing all your flash for attention and trying to get the ladies." Arashi was smiling as he listened to her, "What made me fall for you was when my ninken Ikki was kicked by a ninja when he accidentally marked his territory and hit his leg and you were the first one to help me carry him to my compound to get looked at by our vet. What sealed the deal was when you saw all our puppies and you told me that how could anyone not help any of them injured let alone hurt one of these brave ninjas."

Arashi scratched the back of his head, "Yeah well those ninken are just as much as ninjas as me or you, so he was a comrade in need." Arashi saw that she placed her hands on the table and he nonchalantly reached over and took her hands in his saying, "If you ever need anything, you know you could tell me right?"

Hana started to blush a bit trying to hide it, but failed miserably. Hana stood up saying, "Well I should get back, Ikki, Ishi, and Iyashii need to have their checkup early tomorrow and I have to check the pups as well." Arashi stood up as well, but he grabbed her hand again and pulled her toward him allowing him to wrap an arm around her waist telling her, "That's why you have hired hands for."

His lips got closer and closer to hers and she tried to argue, "Yeah, but they are very picky about who grooms them…" He silenced her when his lips made full contact with hers. After a minute his lips parted from hers making the kunoichi vet groan in annoyance and she heard him say, "Well they are just gonna have to bite the bullet on this one. They get to see you more than I do." He glided his hand across her cheek then used his thumb to rub her red fang tattoo on her cheek.

She closed her eyes and seemed to be in a kind of trance finally agreeing with him, "Well… maybe this one time."

Arashi gave her a small chuckle telling the Inuzuka, "Yeah I know since you've said that the last twelve times." He kept his left arm wrapped around her waist and raised his right hand snapping their fingers and both of them were gone instantly.

* Morning Konoha Academy *

All the now gennin save for Sai who just disappeared as far as everyone knew. Iruka stood at the front of the class holding his clipboard as usual reading off who went to what team. Everyone was scattered around the class not sitting in their assigned seats since there was no point in the matter. Naruto was sitting around his friends as most of them were eager to see who they would end up being teamed up with. Sasuke was again sitting off by himself, but his fangirls were surrounding him saying what they would do when they were on his team.

Haru was looking up at Sasuke and shook her head, then she looked around the class and noticed that a few girls were looking at her brother and that made her shake her head again thinking, 'Nii-san's fangirls like him, but they are to scared of how he normal looks to approach him.'

Iruka calmed the class down by shouting a bit loudly, "Okay listen up! I will now read off who will be selected to what team, now how this works is that you will be placed on a three man cell with a jounin for a sensei. The teams have been selected by myself and the Hokage for this class, so no complaining about not liking your team. Your set up according to equal out the teams basically we balance out if a weaker student will be placed on a team that will strengthen that one's weakness. Understood?"

All the student's nodded, but slumped a bit in their seats now finding out that they might not be on the same team as their friends.

Iruka cleared his throat again for everyone's attention on him once again, "Okay let's begin wit-" He was stopped when the door leading into the classroom slid open and walking in was three people that the kids didn't know, but Iruka knew who they were.

The first one to walk in was Ibiki wearing his normal combat attire, Naruto remembers him from when he was interrogated, Hinata and Haru remember seeing the man when he went to the hospital the day Naruto returned although they didn't know his name. However the next two to walk in followed behind him and only Iruka knew them.

Iruka turned and looked at the two he meet awhile back saying hello, "Well hello there Shi-san, how have you been doing?" The teen boy named Shi who had shaggy brown hair that covered his eyes, he was wearing a gray ninja long sleeve shirt with the right sleeve missing and the left one a bit longer covering his whole left arm, he had a white sash with a black rose flower imprinted on it, gray pants and sandals, and a visible forearm guard that also protected the back of his hand and Iruka assumed he had a left one as well and the visible forearm had the same black rose design on the back of the hand.

Shi didn't answer Iruka only nodding his head in his direction.

Iruka turned his head to the girl sweating a little remembering her hot temper, "It's good to see you as well Takako-chan." The teen girl named Takako looked very serious, her violet colored hair matched her intimidating violet eyes. She had her beautiful violet hair tied in a bun in the back of her head, she was wearing a sleeveless black ninja shirt with a normal mesh shirt covering the bicep of both her arms, black ninja pants, black tabi ninja boots, a red sash around her waist, and finally a red handle tanto sword strapped horizontally to her back. The teen girl looked at Iruka and scoffed looking away from him.

Iruka looked at Ibiki now asking, "So your here for him now?" Ibiki looked at Iruka in the eyes and said, "Yes I am. I'd like to get this on the road as quickly as possible."

"Okay then, Naruto-kun I guess your up first. This is your teammates Shi Kyoukon and Takako Ochiai including your Tokubetsu Jounin Ibiki Morino." Iruka told Naruto. Haru and the rest of her friends couldn't believe what they just heard. Haru was about to say something, but Takako spoke first, "That's our teammate? A gennin fresh out of the academy? Humph he's gonna slow us down."

Naruto brought his hands up allowing his elbows to rest on his desk and he rested his chin on his hands responding, "Funny, because I was worried you'd slow me down. I thought that blade on your back was for show."

Takako immediately grabbed her blade jumping up toward the upper seats where Naruto was pulling her blade out. The blade was hollow in the center for the whole blade length with the outside of the sword and the center missing.

Naruto responded quickly jumping from his desk pulling both of this blades from his back. Once he pulled both out it revealed that one was longer than the other: The longer sword was overall 26 1/4" with the sharp part of the blade itself being 16 3/4", the smaller sword was 18" overall with the blade itself being 11".

The two were close to colliding and when both swung their blades they were stopped mid swing when they could see Shi between the two blocking both attacks using his forearm guards speaking in a kind of deep voice, "I won't... allow this." and by flexing his arms out he made their arms fly above their heads and all three of them landed on the desks.

Naruto sheathed his blades back and Takako did the same thing. Ibiki watched the whole thing with a smile seeing just a portion of their skills and was satisfied with how quickly all three reacted. All the other students including Iruka were stunned with how fast all three of them moved. Ibiki shouted to his students, "Get down here now!"

Instinctively all three jumped in front of Ibiki taking a knee and bowing their heads. Ibiki said to all three of them, "Alright listen up this team will now be referred to as Kaiheitai or Team Kai for short. You three I have selected personally to show this village that you can be more than what your peers expect you to be. Now follow me." Naruto, Shi, and Takako got up and started to follow their sensei, but Takako shot a glare at Naruto that he ignored.

After all three left the room Ino whispered to Haru, "What was that all about?" Haru shrugged her shoulders answering her friend, "I have no idea Ino. Who were those two that are on Naruto's team?"

Iruka could hear all of the students talking about what just happened and wondering why Naruto was so special that he got onto a strong team like that. He then announced, "Okay enough of what just happened! You all will now be placed on your teams and once I announce who your sensei is then you'll have to wait for them to come pick you up, so let's begin."

(Iruka begins pairing off the kids into their teams.)

After calling a few teams he calls the names, "Team 10 will be Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, and… Shikamaru Nara." Ino got out of her seat shouting, "No! It's not like I see enough of these two as it is, but now I'm on their team!"

Shikamaru yawned and placed his head on his desk mumbling, "Troublesome…" Choji was happy with the team he was placed on and began crunching on his chips as always. Iruka looked next to their team name and told the three, "Your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi, so just wait for him to come get you and sit quietly. Especially you Ino!" Ino slumped back into her seat not liking the team she was placed on.

Iruka read down team nine and then got to team 8 announcing, "Team 8 will be Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and of course his ninken Akamaru, and lastly Hinata Hyuuga and your sensei is Kurenai Yuhi!"

Kiba didn't mind the team he was placed on and said to Akamaru, "Well at least we're with people we know. Right Akamaru?" His little dog still sitting on the top of his head barked. Shino adjusted his glasses and that was all. Hinata however was a bit depressed that she couldn't be on the same team as her crush even though she remembered what Kushina said about them still being able to see each other on their off time, but it didn't really help the Hyuuga girl.

Iruka got to the next team announcing, "Team 7 will be Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha…" He was interrupted when Sakura jumped out of her seat shouting, "Yes! I'm on Sasuke-kun's team!" A lot of the girls in the class began to groan and got irritated with the fact they weren't on Sasuke's team. Iruka shouted, "Are we finished with the distractions?" Everyone calmed down afterward and he continued, "As I was saying… the third member of Team 7 is… Haru Namikaze and your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake!"

This time the boys jumped up shouting why Sasuke had two kunoichis on his team and the rest of them only had one. Iruka shouted that it wasn't his decision, but the Hokages and that calmed everyone down reluctantly. Haru wasn't very enthusiastic still wondering like Hinata why Naruto was placed on a team like that instead of a team from their graduating class.

"Okay so I'm going now. Just sit quietly and wait for your jounin senseis to show up and be polite and remember your all ninjas now so you'll need to act like one and not a child. Good luck to all of you." and with that Iruka left with a smile on his face.

The students began to pair up with their teams they were assigned with. Teams 7,8, and 10 sat together save for Sasuke who still sat alone wondering the same thing that was mostly on everyone's mind, 'Why was Naruto so special that he was put on a team like that.' He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard two distinct seats of footsteps stop by him. He looked up and saw Haru and Sakura looking at him, Sakura with a happy face and Haru with a look of uninterested look.

Haru told Sasuke, "Since we are on the same team we should be more fair. Sakura and myself agree that it would be good to sit with Teams 8 &10." Sasuke scoffed and said, "Leave me alone."

Sakura pleaded, "Come on Sasuke-kun it's been a long time since you hung out with all of us." Sasuke turned away from them scoffing at the both of them again. Haru immediately sighed and said, "Gotta do it the hard way." In one swift motion she snatched the prince charming by the collar of his blue shirt and dragged him saying to Sakura, "Let's go Sakura-chan." Sasuke was pissed that Haru was emasculating him in front of the whole class and he didn't have much time to resist since the rest of his 'friends' met them halfway.

Haru slammed him down in a chair still holding onto his collar shouting in his face, "Listen Sasuke-teme! This isn't about just you anymore! It's about the team now, so we are gonna have to not 'act' like one, but we are going to 'be one'! I'm tired of you thinking that you were dealt the worst hand out of everyone in the village and that everyone should immediately feel sorry for you! Be a real man!" After she shouted that she shook him by his collar once before pushing him back in his seat one last time making him almost fall back. Haru offered one last set of words for him, "Your being a spoiled brat. Your not you anymore."

Sakura looked between Sasuke and Haru looking at how Haru had her arms crossed and her back facing Sasuke and Sasuke glaring at her back. Everyone in the classroom were shocked that Haru went that far, but that it was about time someone knocked the Uchiha prince off his pedestal. After glaring at Haru, Sasuke simply crossed his arms and looked the other way. Everyone else sat down and began talking amongst themselves until their senseis arrived to come pick them up. There was not much else they could do besides wait.

* The Academy Roof *

Ibiki was standing by the rail of the roof looking at his students who were standing before him front and center. The jounin groaned and said, "Alright we need to learn a little bit about ourselves if we want to function properly as a team. I'll start off first to show you how it's done then I'm going to call on one of you." He cleared his throat and started off, "My name is Ibiki Morino and I'm with the Torture and Interrogation Force, I like to torture people for information if I really need that info, I dislike people who don't put up a fight during the interrogation and my dream… no rather my goal is to insure Konoha's protecting to the best of my abilities." After speaking he saw the looks in the eyes of his students who he knew were calling him a sadist.

He point to Shi first saying, "You first sunshine. Tell me your name, likes, dislikes, your goals and or dream for the future." Shi took awhile to speak and when he did it was somewhat slow, "My name is… Shi Kyoukon. I like to… train and I like… soy foods, I dislike pointless arguments… and meat in general. My goal… is to make jounin and... my dream is to rebuild the temple in the Horo Desert."

"So it is true that the Horo Monks were vegans. I heard about your temple's destruction during the war between the Daimyo's army in the Land of Cactus and the Guerilla Army sometime ago. Sad to hear that your temple was caught in the crossfire." said Ibiki. Shi only looked away and listened who was up next. Ibiki pointed to

Takako saying, "Your turn."

The girl sighed and rubbed her chin telling them a little bit about herself, "My name is Takako Ochiai. I don't like anything really aside from sculpting. I dislike assholes, idiots, politicians, and snakes. My goal is to find out what really happened to my family and my dream is… My own business."

Ibiki frowned and thought, 'This one is so independent. I need to break her of that.' He pointed to Naruto last and said, "Well your the only one left."

Naruto still had his emotionless expression telling everyone, "My name is Naruto Namikaze, I like to train, hunt, plant cultivating, my friends and ramen. I don't like red bean soup or those who try and harm my friends and comrades. My goal is to beat and kill a very powerful ninja… As for my dream... well I haven't given it much thought."

Ibiki kept his eyes glued on Naruto knowing exactly who he was talking about. He then placed both hands behind his back telling his new squad, "Alright listen, this team will function as a normal gennin three-man squad and jounin sensei. However, if there is an situation that a ordinary gennin team cannot handle, then we take the stage immediately as per the orders of the Hokage. This team will specialize in direct combat and tracking because of the strengths gathered here and unlike the rest of your graduating squads we won't be starting off on D-Ranked missions. Instead we will be given C-Ranked missions right off the bat."

Takako gave a smile at hearing those, but her two companions didn't so much as make a facial expression. "But before I can deam this team worthy I will put you through a kind of initiation."

"What kind of initiation?" asked Shi.

Ibiki took a few steps back till he leaned on the rail explaining, "Since this team is given certain royalties that is unnatural for a gennin team I'm ordered to put you through a difficult right of passage kind of exam. In this fun little exam you 'will' pass all four of the different tests or try to rather, but I'll explain more of that tomorrow and for now." Ibiki held up his fingers counting down from four to one, "The first one is teamwork, you three will fight against me in a no holds bar battle, simply no rules, no holding back and these rules don't apply to me. The second will be tracking, if I am able to live after the first test, then in this one I will hide myself and it's your job to find me before a certain time limit."

He took a brief pause to let them absorb all of that, but he was satisfied when all they did was listen and not try and interrupt him. "The third on will be one of trust and loyalty between not only yourselves, but also your village. The fourth and final test will be an overall summery of what you've learned about yourselves, your teammates, and what it means to be a ninja in general. Get some rest, we start tomorrow morning at five o'clock and we will meet at Training Ground 17." Ibiki started to walk away putting his hands in his pockets telling them, "Also if you don't pass all four of the tests… Then you'll be stripped of your ninja titles and will never be able to be ninjas in this village again."

This time 'all' three showed shocked expressions over what he just said, but Takako was the first to jump up shouting at the man, "WHAT! So even if we fail one of the tests we won't be ninjas anymore!"

Ibiki stopped walking and then turned to look at all three of them, "That's exactly what it is. I have no use for a squad that can't cooperate nor learn to trust their companions, so if you keep pulling stunts like you did in the classroom not to long ago, then you will die very easily. You need to trust in you companions enough to know that they will watch your back and you can rest easy knowing so. If you don't like this, then quit now." After he said all he wanted he started walking away again waving goodbye to his students and telling them that he'll see them tomorrow.

This left the three shocked and awed still. Takako turned to her teammates and shouted, "Listen! You two will not screw this up for me, so we are going to request a training ground now so we can pass those freaking tests! You got it!"

"Who made you captain?" asked Naruto. Takako pointed to her saying, "I did! Any objections!"

Naruto said calmly still, "If we are going to be putting someone in charge, then it should be someone who can keep his or her cool and from what I'm seeing now and from the classroom your not exactly one I would pick to lead." Takako narrowed her eyes at him saying "You mind saying that again!"

"I suggest Shi be the team leader since he is the oldest one of us, he's had more experience in the field, and judging by how fast he moved to stop us I'd say he's pretty damn strong." said Naruto, he then looked at Shi asking, "Have a problem with that?"

Shi's bangs were covering his eyes, but he said, "No… I don't."

Takako crossed her arms and said, "Fine then! I here by agree to letting Shi be the captain of the team." Naruto followed up by saying, "I also agree."

"However… I do agree with Takako… We should… go to a… training ground… and learn more about… each other." said Shi. Naruto didn't have any objections and the group dusted off their pants and followed Shi to the Hokage tower to request the training ground.

What the three didn't know was that they were being watched by two people who were hiding themselves completely. Stepping out of the shadows was Arashi and Ibiki who watched the whole scene unfold before them.

"Well they aren't going to take any chances on this are they?" said Arashi.

Ibiki told the young blonde, "They are thinking with their heads. They know what's at stake and they aren't going to act like kids anymore." Arashi asked Ibiki, "Do you think that Takako will really respect Naruto and Shi?"

"I know what to do tomorrow. I have it all set up on what move I will make next." said Ibiki. Arashi smiled and told the man, "I'm not worried. Naruto will go in this 110% prepared. I only hope that your ready."

Ibiki turned and watched Arashi leave and he did the same so he could make the preparations for tomorrow.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

Happy news! Later tonight I'm going to go see 'Despicable Me' and 'Predators' with my friends. This is gonna be so awesome! Well see you guys on the next update. Stay Gold!

TRANSLATION:

**Kaiheitai- **Royal Marines / Marine Corps


	15. The Initiation Begins

Chapter Fifteen: The Initiation Begins

Here it is the long awaited fifteenth chapter. I must say that his story is popular and I am very thankful for all you readers out there and I will try my hardest to update. So I do hope that everyone likes this one. I am very sleep deprived right now and I am going to bed immediately.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Late at Night: Hokage Mansion *

Kushina and Minato were sitting in the living room waiting for their kids to return. Their attention was drawn to the noise of the front door opening and in walked Haru looking a bit depressed, but both the parents knew why she would be depressed since Minato placed her in Kakashi's care as sensei. Haru went into the living room and plopped down on the couch next to her mother and laid down so her head was on her mother's lap.

Kushina began stoking her daughter's hair asking, "So how was your day today Haru-chan?" Haru turned so she was laying on her back, crossing her arms and puffing out her cheeks she told her parents, "Kakashi-sensei said that we have to show up to the training ground 22 early tomorrow and not to eat breakfast otherwise we'll throw up. He also had us tell a bit about ourselves, but he himself only gave us a scrap of information about him. Tou-san I'm beginning to think I got the short end of the stick on this one."

Her father couldn't help but chuckle, "Well Haru-chan I thought it'd be best for you to have Kakashi as a sensei. After all he was my former student and he has made a ver promising name for himself." Haru sat up and asked, "By the way tou-san I saw Naruto-nii's team today. They aren't exactly newbies are they?"

Kushina looked at Minato wondering what Naruto's team was like, she never pressures Minato into revealing what he does in his office, but she'd like to know a bit about what goes on during the meetings and team selections, "Minato-kun what team did you place Naruto-kun on?" asked Kushina. Minato 'was' reading Jiraiya's recent published book Icha-Icha Paradise, but he now put it away and looked at his wife and daughter. The young Hokage scratched his head and told the two, "Naruto's been placed in a group of dead last's or failures that would never really amount to ninja standards. His two teammates have had issues either with academy graduations or with a gennin team so it resulted in being either held back, suspended, or come close to having their ranks as ninjas pulled."

"Why put him in a team like that?" asked Kushina. Minato told Kushina, "Iruka gave me updates on Naruto's behaviors and so far through the academy years when we hoped he would open up more instead had a reverse effect. Naruto hasn't tried to socialize nor has his emotional shell cracked he may have improved, but it's not a lot. Right Haru-chan?"

Kushina looked at her daughter and Haru told her mother, "Well Naruto-kun has made some progress but-" Minato stopped her and said, "It's because of that 'some progress' and when you added 'but' that now proves that hanging around gennins that he could easily defeat isn't helping, so he needs those who can knock him down a peg or two. I'm taking a big gamble here, but it's all I got. Right now Naruto is in a constant Namikaze battle mode and that's not what I intended for my son."

Looking down Kushina had tried at home to get Naruto to open up more to crack more smiles or to even laugh, but he offers very few emotions in the corse of two weeks. However she had faith that this will work since the Namikaze family have luck that Kami himself would want. Kushina smiled and asked her husband, "Who's Naruto-kun's sensei?"

Minato told her, "It's Ibiki he thinks he can get into him and get him to open up more." Kushina wasn't so hopeful now knowing Ibiki's reputation. All three of them heard the door open from the living room signaling that either Naruto or Arashi returned, there guess was completely right. Both Arashi and Naruto walked into the house and Naruto's outfit was dirty and had some tears in it. Arashi was smiling and he told his parents, "I found Naruto-kun limping home. It seems he and his team got together for a little pre-team training exercise to get ready for tomorrow."

"Well now how did that go Naruto-kun?" asked Minato. Naruto looked at his dad and he told him, "At least now I know they can handle themselves if I'm not around. That'll put my mind at ease if we are separated. I'm going upstairs to take a bath." He started walking away and Kushina told Naruto to place his outfit on top of the laundry bin so she could fix it for him.

Minato looked to his youngest and told her, "You should get ready for bed too since you'll have to get up early tomorrow." Haru agreed and got off of the bed and she told her parents that she was going to use the main floor bath house. The mansion had small baths in each of the rooms for privacy, a larger bath inside the house that could fit seven people, and finally the outside bath that was to the side of the mansion with a wall separating the men's side from the women's side.

Haru took off her vest jacket and placed it over her shoulder and started to untie her two long blonde braids as she headed to the bath.

The oldest son and child stretched his arms telling his mother, "Well I'm goin to sleep as well since I have a mission tomorrow as well." Kushina looked from her husband to her son asking, "Well is it the type of mission that can't be discussed?"

Arashi shook his head, "Naw it's one of those missions where I refuse to talk about." he began smiling and headed upstairs to go to sleep. The only red head ninja in the home shook her head telling her husband, "All three of our kids have their own personalities that don't match up at all."

The blonde Hokage opened his book back up and responded while skimming through the few sentences, "Yeah we have a carefree son, a rebellious daughter, and socially confused Naruto." Kushina brought her finger to her chin and said, "Haru hit the rebellious stage earlier than I did." she then looked at her husband and said, "You know what? Neither you nor our sons have had a rebellious stage. I'm beginning to think that the Namikaze men don't have it in them to rebel against their family or peers."

Minato looked up from his book to his wife and said, "Hey I was pretty rebellious in my youth. Remember when I… uh…" The Yondaime was stuck. Kushina got up from the couch, walked over to her husband and lightly tapped the tip of his nose then kissed his forehead saying, "Sweetheart you and I know full well that you were the A+ kid in school with looks good enough to make girls drool at the mouth. You were never really the bad boy ditching school type. She started to walk away heading to Naruto's bathroom to get his damaged clothes and fix them up before he got up in the morning.

Minato sighed and said to himself, "I guess she's right… She always is." He looked back at his book and continued reading.

* Naruto's Bath *

Naruto was inside his bathtub looking through the skylight above him thinking about tomorrow. His thoughts were cut short when his left arm numbed up again and he grabbed his left bicep thinking, 'It's happening more often and lasting longer than normal.' After a few minutes it died down and he again had feeling in his arm. He always thought about going to the doctor to have his arm looked at, but since it always went away and it didn't seem life threatening he just left it alone and only hoped that it wouldn't happen while he was on a mission.

Thinking back on today and his little training with his team he thought that they were good and that maybe being stuck with them would be beneficial. Naruto was finally done bathing, he got out of the tub and drained the water, putting on his sleep clothes he went downstairs to eat some dinner.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Somewhere in Bean Country *

Sitting on two giant boulders were two Akatsuki nins. One had medium length silver hair slicked back with a distinctive pinkish-purple eyes. He wears his cloak open with no shirt, only pants under it revealing this Yugakure forehead protector around his neck and a necklace with a circle and an upside down triangle in it. He wears dark green nail polish and a ring on his left index finger with the kanji for 'Three', carrying a triple-bladed scythe on his back.

The other nin was Kakuzu who had a map laid out marking off a few spots they just visited. Kakuzu glanced at his partner telling him, "We'll be moving out soon Hidan, so get all the rest you can because we're not stopping until we reach Kumo."

The Yuga-nin snorted telling his partner, "Yeah, yeah I get it damn it! So far our little organization hasn't caught a single biju yet! I'm suppose to capture the Nibi, but who are you suppose to capture!" Kakuzu folded up the map and placed it in his cloak pocket. Glancing at his partner he told him, "Let's go."

Hidan scowled and shouted, "Oi you son-of-a-bitch! Don't ignore my question! Hey I'm fucking talking to you!" Hidan saw Kakuzu start walking away, grunting he jumped off of the boulder he was sitting on and followed him. The two nuke-nins didn't get more than a mile before the ground in front of them began to form a lump and take the form of a venus fly trap. The plant opened up revealing Zetsu.

The plant man's white half smiled and told Kakuzu, "The time is coming ever closer. His chakra supply is very high indeed and all I need left to complete his body construction is what you promised." Hidan started looking back and forth between Zetsu and Kakuzu wondering what they were talking about.

Kakuzu held his arm out allowing his stitches to come undone on his right arm. He reached over with his left and grabbed his arm that he detached and half of his right forearm was left. Zetsu and Hidan saw Kakuzu's right arm bulge up and a series of the chakra threads that make up Kakuzu's body came out in the form of a black ball.

The former Taki-nin put his arm back on and said, "This is the last experiment. Afterward we continue on to the next phase as Leader wanted, we just need to wait for you to finish up your end."

Zetsu looked at the black mass and watched as he began to 'pulse' as if it was alive. Zetsu smiled and his chest opened up revealing a giant mouth (I made this up) and using his hands he picked up the black mass and swallowed it into his body and after ingesting it his chest mouth closed. Zetsu's venus fly trap slowly closed and he spoke, "Don't worry Kakuzu I'll get the job done." Afterwards he sunk back into the earth to finish up his part in the plan.

Kakuzu told Hidan, "Let's go, we have a job to do." Hidan groaned shouting, "Not another fucking bounty hunting mission!" Kakuzu and Hidan traveled to get to their next destination.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Morning: Konoha *

Haru woke up to an alarm that was set and she quickly grabbed the alarm clock and promptly tossed it against the wall shattering it. Haru groggily got up and walked straight into her bathroom to wash her face and get ready to go and meet her team for their first team practice and only taking what she needed. Heading across the hall to Naruto's room she opened it without opening it and peeked inside noticing Naruto's bed was neatly made and he was nowhere in sight. She then headed downstairs to go and see if he was there.

Walking downstairs she saw Naruto sitting down and reading a scroll. Haru walked over to him asking, "Hey nii-san what are you reading?" Naruto turned and saw Haru rubbing the her eyes, he showed her the scroll saying, "Arashi-nii left these out for us. Yours is over there, I figured since I have time that I'd get sometime to read this over."

Haru looked on the living room table and saw a scroll that had her name written on it. After unraveling it she saw the immediate name on it and said out loud, "This is a seal type jutsu, I guess that it could be useful someday." Naruto continued reading saying to his little sister, "Every jutsu is useful it all depends on the one using it." Agreeing with what he said she took a glance at the clock on the wall and said, "Well I still have time before I leave so I guess I'll skim through this."

Naruto could hear his sister's stomach rumble and he told her, "You should at least snack." Haru shook her head, "No, Kakashi-sensei said not to have breakfast otherwise we'd throw up."

"Your not eating breakfast, your eating a snack." responded the blonde ninja. Haru contemplated that and then stood up, "I guess an egg and some toast won't kill me." heading to the kitchen to at least snack on something while Naruto continued reading the scroll his brother gave him until it came time to leave. Though Haru didn't have to leave sometime after Naruto would, so she decided to snack then read the scroll their brother left them.

* 5 a.m. : Training Ground 17 *

The sun's rays were barely breaking over the mountains indicating the sun would rise soon. Naruto only had his swords, his ninja pouch, and his ninja attire. The area they were training in was the typical open field that Konoha had spread out amongst all it's training grounds, Naruto thought this wasn't a good place to train since today they would need to fight their sensei and there wasn't enough cover to allow them to surprise him or set up traps.

He came to a stop at a grouping of trees and noticed that Shi was already there laying down drawing patterns into the air with his right hand. Naruto walked over and sat down next to him and the two sat in silence the, that is until Takako showed up grumbling, "This is such a depressing scene." she said referring to her teammates and how boring they were.

The moment she sat down they were all surprised when a puff of smoke appeared in front of them revealing Ibiki later. The man put his hands in his coat pocket and said, "Good your all here on time and ready to begin." The three gennins stood up and waited for their instructions.

"It occurs to me that you all despite having issues wish to prove your worth to your village, this leads me to believe that you will all practically have no use for me in the next three years. That's my guess anyway and the Hokage deemed when I see that you no longer need my teachings and can function properly in and out of missions then you'll be eligible to be part of the ANBU. This however is only possible if I see that your ready." explained Ibiki.

Takako waved her hands in the air saying, "Wait, wait, wait, wait! Your telling me that we'll be in the ANBU if we pass your three year class!" Ibiki gave a grin and nodded.

"That is what the Hokage thinks anyway and I told him that in three years you'll be ready for it, so as inspiration if you want to be an elite then you'll just need to meet the deadline. Exactly 1,095 days to be able to get that honor, but not only do you have to pass as ninjas I will also be evaluating your mental and social skills as well. If your wondering why you'll need social skills to pass it's, then you'll understand that most of your covert ops missions will require you to be social when the time comes and none of you strike me as the types to act social." Ibiki finished.

Shi asked him, "It seems… we understand… Now what about… our initiation?"

Smiling Ibiki answered, "Right down to business I see." He took his hands out of his pockets and explained, "You'll have till seven o'clock to beat me. The ways to do this is to either make me submit verbally, make me lose consciousness, trap me and torture to have me quit, or even kill me. Those are your options and if you can't do it until noon then you'll fail the first part of the initiation and will be dropped and stripped of your ranks. Remember you must pass all four of the initiation tests if you want to be an elite, these aren't just some kiddy ninja play games… this is real life and I'm going to prepare you for the real world out there."

All three of the ninjas nodded and immediately got into battle positions. Ibiki liking how they were rare'n to go he decided to start, "Okay we will begin… now." after he said that Naruto and Takako launched themselves at him pulling their weapons from their holsters and attacked him. Ibiki put his hands behind his back and effectively dodged each swing of their sharpened blades.

Shi used his speed and appeared behind Ibiki grabbing the giant man and proceeded to do a suplex slamming him on the back of his head. Ibiki's body however was surrounded by smoke and it was revealed to be a log. Naruto was surprised and thought, 'When did he use a substitution jutsu?' Takako brought her hands together and shouted, "You won't get away from me!" Closing her eyes she focused her chakra and found him shouting to her teammates, "He's over there at six o'clock!"

Ibiki was hiding behind the tree and said, "So she is a sensor type then. This makes the second portion of the test even more difficult." Shi dashed for the tree and punched straight through it. Ibiki jumped out of the way and watched the tree fall down. Naruto followed up his attack by swinging his blades trying to strike him in the face.

Dodging them easily Ibiki thought, 'One blade is shorter than the other, but he swings a tad bit wider with the longer blade. Naruto turned his back to Ibiki attempting to do a spinning back kick, but Ibiki knocked his kick away with ease. Takako appeared in Ibiki's blindside trying to stab him in his side. Ibiki heard her approach his blind side and he turned to face her kicking her in the chest and knocking her back. Naruto faced Ibiki swinging his shorter blade at Ibiki.

The veteran ninja moved his head out of the way avoiding the attack, but he felt a blood drip down his cheek so he leapt back. Bringing his hand up to his face he saw he had blood from a cut on his face.

Shi went at Ibiki attempting to strike Ibiki in the body to do some damage and knock him off his game. Ibiki grabbed Shi's right hand and bent his arm back and he kneed him in the stomach, then in a swift motion he flipped Shi onto his back. About to stomp down on Shi's chest with all his might, but Naruto ran to Shi grabbing him by his ankles and pulling him away and avoiding the stomp. Takako attacked Ibiki from the back slapping something on his back and then kicked him behind his knee making Ibiki kneel.

Not staying there Takako dashed at Naruto grabbing him and grabbing Shi by his ankle and jumping away carrying them off. Ibiki heard a sparking noise and it was followed by an explosion. Shi, Naruto, and Takako watched as the smoke was still lingering and Shi told Takako, "Find him." Takako brought her hands together again scanning for him. She found him saying, "He's a mile away. He used a substitution jutsu again."

Naruto and Takako were about to go after him, but Shi stopped them, "Wait… If we keep this up… then we'll run out of… chakra before him…" Takako kept her cool because once she started an argument with someone then it interferes with her fighting ability, "Well then Shi what do you suggest we do then?" Shi ushered them to come closer and he whispered something to them about their plan of attack.

* Ten Minutes Later *

Ibiki's coat was gone since he used it as the base for his substitution jutsu. Naturally unharmed save for the cut on the left side of his face which he still had a hard time figuring out. He looked at a watch he kept on him thinking, 'Twenty minutes and they still haven't come for me. That's good considering I can try think of a way of making this more difficult.' So Ibiki sat there thinking and waiting for them to come and find him.

* An Hour Later *

Still waiting but no one appeared he decided it was time to go and find them, but to his surprise Shi darted out from above the trees and punched down onto Ibiki. Bringing both arms up Ibiki blocked the punch and even tossed Shi away. Takako later appeared from the shadows swinging her weapon at Ibiki and Shi also joined in on the attack both were swinging at Ibiki almost to quickly for the jounin to block. The two kept backing him up further and further until he was in the open. Once he was Shi tried a takedown on Ibiki, but the giant dove his arms underneath Shi's arms getting a double underhook on him. Takako helped her teammate by cutting Ibiki in his left shoulder making him let go of Shi.

Takako grabbed Shi and jumped away shouting, "NOW!"

Naruto appeared out of nowhere by using a transparent jutsu. Naruto slammed his hands on the ground activating a series of explosive notes that were underground beneath Ibiki. Not being able to activate a substitution jutsu since his right shoulder was damaged and he couldn't do it quick enough he was caught in the explosion. Ibiki jumped out of the smoke with his clothes charred and once he was out he saw Takako on one knee, she dug her hand into the ground pulling out a chain. Naruto also reached into the dirt and pulled out the other end of the chain and with both of them pulling Ibiki realized he was caught in a loop and he was captured.

Takako activated her nature chakra sending lighting through the chain causing it to hit both Naruto and Ibiki paralyzing both of them. Naruto expected this and before he fell he tossed a kunai that flew passed Ibiki, the kunai had a explosive tag by it and when it blew up it knocked him off of his feet since the explosion was fairly small.

Paralyzed, injured, and disorientated from these attacks the last thing he saw was Shi run up to his left. Shi focused his chakra into his fist at an uneven level and hit Ibiki square in the joint of his jaw, Ibiki lost consciousness for a moment but later regained himself. Before Shi could punch him again Ibiki kicked Shi square in his stomach despite his injuries and he shifted his body out of the chain and jumped away.

Naruto, Shi, and Takako regrouped ready to attack again, but Ibiki shouted, "Enough!" All three froze and thought that this was trick at the same time. Ibiki cracked a grin and said, "You all passed the first portion of the initiation."

Takako sheathed her weapon asking, "What do you mean?" Ibiki explained, "One of the ways to beat me was to make me lose consciousness. I admit that when Shi punched me he made me lose consciousness for a brief moment, but I lost consciousness none the less. Which enables you all to advance to the second part."

Naruto and Shi remained silent, but Takako jumped up shouting, "YES! We passed the first portion! We'll definitely pass the next three easily." Ibiki couldn't argue with that, well somewhat since the next portion dealt with tracking and with Takako being a sensor type, then finding him would make it easier for them. Ibiki told his team, "Okay listen. The second part will take place at 10 o'clock and we will meet back here, so I'll explain what will happen when we meet back here. Understood?" All three saluted him and Ibiki walked off.

Takako turned on her heel facing her teammates, "You know you two aren't so bad at all." Shi replied, "Yes… you two are definitely… strong." It was rare for Naruto to give out complements but he assumed that it was rare for these two to give out complements as well and he had to admit that Shi's plan was perfect and Takako can back up what she says two fold. Naruto sighed, "I think that if we cooperate more and get to know each other a bit more we'll definitely rise in the ranks."

Both of his teammates nodded and Takako said they should eat together as a team to get their strength back up, Naruto requested they go to Ichiraku. Shi and Takako heard of the small ramen bar and they couldn't think of anywhere else to eat and so they ventured off to the ramen bar to eat.

* Ichiraku Ramen Bar *

Sitting at the stools was Hinata, Shino, and Kiba. The three got done with their little team battle and Kurenai had released them to get something to eat and then come back for training, Kiba was in the mood for some ramen and suggested they go there. As the three ninjas ate and Kiba gave his dog Akamaru some treats to snack on he was talking the loudest about what they could do to better themselves as a team.

Akamaru was laying on the floor when a familiar scent hit his nose and he walked out of the ramen bar and over to Naruto and his team. Naruto looked down and saw Akamaru jumping on his right leg. Takako saw Akamaru and asked, "So who's mutt is this?" Naruto picked up Akamaru and told Takako, "This is my friend Kiba's dog, Akamaru." Looking up to the ramen bar he deduced that Kiba and his team were there.

Walking inside Team 8 saw Naruto and his team. Kiba shouted out, "Hey Naruto!" Naruto greeted Kiba with his usual unemotional hello. Shino and Hinata greeted Naruto as well. Naruto took the empty seat right next to Hinata and his team took their seat to his left. Teuchi smiled after seeing Naruto saying, "Why if it isn't little Naruto. You want the usual?"

Naruto nodded. Teuchi looked to his teammates and asked, "What can I get you two?" Takako gave her order, "I'd like some… hmmm how about some chicken flavored ramen." Teuchi nodded and looked to the bigger man. Shi asked, "Can I have… just ramen with no flavors added to it." Teuchi thought that was strange, but he didn't argue and started up on their orders.

In the meantime Kiba started talking with Naruto's teammates finding them very difficult to talk to. Naruto on the other hand was talking silently with Hinata, "So Hinata-chan how did your first team get together go?" Hinata had a very light blush gracing her cheeks, but she answered, "It went great Naruto-kun. How did yours go."

"It's still going. Our sensei gave us a few hours off to eat so we have to meet him again at ten." said Naruto. Takako saw Naruto and Hinata's interaction with each other and let a small smile appear on her lips, she leaned over to Shi and whispered, "That girl likes Naruto, but I don't think he even realizes it yet." Shi had also seen it and lightly nodded.

Naruto and Hinata continued talking for awhile. For Naruto there were a few people who he could talk to easily and Hinata was one of those people and he was taught by his mother to take value in everything you like or even love. Naruto was still confused on the love concept no matter how many books he read, but he read a few about affections, signs concerning other's feelings, and a number of other books. He was no fool and from what he read he could clearly tell that she like him, but he has no way of knowing how to politely return those feelings since he basically shuts his emotions off to almost everyone, he does however let it slip and doesn't know how to not really be like how his friends are.

Hinata liked spending time with Naruto very much, she liked spending time with the rest of her other male friends, but Naruto was different from the rest of them. Maybe it was because like a few of her female friends she stands out and Naruto stands out from all his male friends and she was the only one he could speak with on a certain level and he enjoyed her company out of everyone else.

The two teams practically ate in silence except when Kiba asked Naruto a question or two, or when Hinata wanted to strike up a conversation with Naruto.

Sometime went by and Shi told his team that he was going back to the training ground to rest. Takako had went to her apartment to get something to help with their tracking assignment. Naruto remained for a moment longer talking with his friends, but then he two eventually left too.

* ANBU HQ *

Ibiki grabbed a few essentials for the next part of the test, bandaged up his wounds, and changed his outfit. He had been thinking of a way to make this portion more difficult since if he just hid then it would make it too easy for them especially with Takako being a sensor type ninja and Naruto being raised in the wild basically so he knew a thing or two about tracking for his next meal.

Ibiki had an idea or two of how he could make it more interesting for them so now he just needed to wait until the time came for him to go and get them.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

Sorry for the very long wait. The next chapter will have the final three parts to their initiation and I usually have a long fight scene in my stories, but this time I can only offer that little part. I'm hoping to be able to upload when I find free time, but I'm getting less and less of those so I'll upload when I can and if you have any questions please feel free to ask. Thank you all for your patience.


	16. The Initiation Complete

Chapter Sixteen: Initiation Complete

Please put all your pitchforks and torches down as I have updated finally! Picking up the pace a bit in the story and I've thought out the outcome of the next few chapters, but finding my free time is difficult. I'm gonna do my best to get the next chapter up ASAP.

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Naruto was at the meeting spot wanting to take a well deserved nap after their little skirmish with their 'sensei'. Naruto had a bit of trouble and shifted to laying on his back looking up at the sky. He wasn't super tired, but he at least wanted to rest to get some strength before the second test. Suddenly out of nowhere he felt his body go numb and his eyelids became very heavy and he tried to fight this sudden loss of exhaustion that took over him. Loosing that battle he fell asleep despite now not wanting to.

A lump formed next to Naruto as a Zetsu (white half( clone appeared next to his body snickering, "This is to easy. No ANBU nins nearby and no one to bother me, it's as if Kami wanted me to complete this part. Zetsu rolled up the sleeve to Naruto's left arm until it was completely revealed. The skin underneath Naruto's left arm began to shift and move around and suddenly a yellow eye appeared on his bicep. Zetsu said to himself, "Now to do my part." Zetsu lifted up the hem of Naruto's shirt until his stomach was visible and he placed his one arm on Naruto's stomach and began to merge with Naruto's body. The left eye closed disappearing from sight.

Zetsu began merging more and more with Naruto's body until he was completely merged with him. Naruto's eyes opened up revealing them to be yellow instead of their usual blue color. Naruto stood up and began looking at his hands and began to snicker he spoke with a voice that was eerily similar to Zetsu's voice, "Naruto-kun's body has such power, I wouldn't mind borrowing this body for awhile."

The Zetsu/Naruto looked at his left arm and he said, "His arm is now complete." Zetsu pulled the sleeve to Naruto's left arm down covering it once again just as the skin of Naruto's left arm began to shift once again. Zetsu looked at the sky and thought, 'It's getting closer to ten o'clock.' (yes he can tell the time based off of the position of the sun.)

Zetsu laid back down to where Naruto was before. After he laid down he said, 'The time is coming closer. Now Naruto-kun has to keep up his part of the plan.' Zetsu closed his eyes.

* 10 O'Clock *

Takako made it back to the meeting spot and saw her teammates laying beneath the same tree she found them under the last time. Except Shi wasn't sleeping. Takako sat next to him and asked, "So when did the two of you get here?"

"I got here… after Naruto… He was here… before me…" said Shi in his normal pausing tones. Takako looked at Naruto and she said, "Wonder how long he plans on sleeping. We should wake him up." She got up and walked up to Naruto lightly slapping the top of his head. Naruto's hand shot up almost punching her in her face, but she was quick enough to evade.

She backed away from him and Naruto slowly got up rubbing his eyes. Takako told him, "Nice reflexes kid." Naruto stood up and stretched his arms out feeling much better than he had before he fell asleep. Not getting a chance to think on it more since a pop of smoke appeared in front of them revealing their sensei in what they assumed were his backup clothes since they looked the same as his last pair.

Ibiki cleared his throat and said, "Good all are here. Now the second part of your test is as you know a hunting type. I will be somewhere within Konoha's boundaries waiting for you all to find me, but heres the kicker. I just won't let you catch me so you'll have to work for your capture. This is to show you that when theres a mission where you need to capture your target alive and that sometimes there will be surprises waiting for you."

All of them understood and waited for him to finish. Ibiki explained, "You'll have less time to finish this one unlike the last. You'll have until noon to capture me alive, now I will be resisting at a high chunnin level since there is no way you'd be sent off on a mission where you'll be needed to capture a jounin level opponent without a sensei….. yet, so that's how it will start off."

He put both his hands in his pocket and said, "The test begins now. Good luck." with that he vanished into a puff of smoke. Shi stood up and he immediately looked at Takako saying, "Find him…" Takako was way ahead of him and was already scanning the area for him.

Naruto and Shi remained silent. Takako opened her eyes and said, "He's not in the area so which means that he's out of my sensing area. However he'd of needed to be close by in order to use that clone, so I can pinpoint his last location where he summoned the clone from."

"I can take it from there." said Naruto, "Just find out where he was last and I can track him down until we find out where he is and from there Takako can take it."

Takako and Shi nodded. Naruto and Shi followed after Takako who took them to the last location she was able to sense where Ibiki was. They got to a area where a few trees were and Naruto immediately got to work and he told his teammates not to move so they don't disturb anything. Naruto found a few clues as to where he might of gone, but also took into account that he may have used clones to cover his real tracks. Getting on all fours Naruto took a few good whiffs and found a scent, Kakuzu taught Naruto how to send chakra to his nose to catch scents and it's come in handy during the times he needed to hunt for food.

"Found a scent, this way follow me!" Naruto jumped off into the trees with his teammates hot on his tail. Naruto and his teammates followed the scent through the village, but stopped when Naruto told them that his scent was being overpowered by the smell of a bakery that was nearby. Naruto jumped to a roof looking for any clue and found just what he wanted a foot print in the dust atop the building. Naruto couldn't exactly say it was his, but from what Naruto seen he could deduce that it was the same size as Ibiki.

His team trusted him enough to follow. As they followed the faint trails from the footprints Takako got a lock on Ibiki's chakra shouting, "I found his chakra!" Naruto and Shi came to a stop and Naruto told her to take the lead.

The three ninjas ran through the village rim following the chakra, they then realized they were in a mountain area of the training grounds. Not entering just yet they all deduced that Ibiki probably set traps and he did say that this was to show anything can happen. Naruto summoned a clone and made it transform into a small fox making it go into the mountain area.

After some time Naruto's clone vanished giving him the memories, "I can see a few traps, he has at least four other ninjas with him, and he's not very far." Shi sat down and told his team, "Alright we can't risk sending another clone in there since they might run and we'll have to track them all over again. So here's the plan."

* Ibiki and his Ninjas *

Ibiki was siting on a large boulder and was waiting patiently. They saw a fox and immediately killed it and like Ibiki guessed it was a shadow clone which meant that they were nearby. He had four ninjas with him that were ANBU level, but were told to fight at a chunin level. He held his hand out and told them to scatter. The four did so and hid themselves behind the rocks waiting to ambush the three.

A minute went by and they heard a trap go off and Ibiki stood up to prepare himself for battle. More of his traps went off then he would've guessed, then he realized it, "It's their own trap!" He felt the ground shake and jumped out of the way avoiding a hand that shot out of the ground almost grabbing his ankle.

The other ninjas were about to jump when they all were grabbed by their ankles and pulled down. Looking down they all saw two Naruto's

Takako was a distance away watching and relaying info to her teammates using a two-way radio that Shi brought with him. The Naruto's subdued the ninjas by outnumbering them when more of him came out of the holes restraining the ninjas and knocking them out in the process.

Ibiki saw Shi crawl out of the hole that almost grabbed him. Ibiki mused thinking, 'They used the noise caused by my traps to cover up the sounds and motion of the ground beneath us digging a tunnel underneath both me and my men. No doubt Takako found our locations and told it to Shi and Naruto. There may be hope for this team after all.'

Shi attempted to attack Ibiki making him use his foot work. Ibiki broke them down and thought, 'Shi is the muscle making me keep my attention on him and…' he knocked Shi away for a second and spun around grabbing Takako's hand. She attempted to get him from behind, 'Takako is the stealth kill.' He spun her around tossing her into Shi.

He caught her and jumped away. Ibiki grinned and though, 'And Naruto is the ambush.' he jumped away when two more Narutos shot out of the ground trying to grab him. Ibiki landed away from the two clone's safely. The two Narutos got out of the ground looking at Ibiki and he saw Shi and Takako run up next to the two Narutos.

Ibiki told them, "Your all doing so well, but you still need to catch me since as I said any-" he as cut off when chain with a loop in it came up from the dirt and the loop wrapped around him catching his arms restraining him. He looked to his left and right and saw two more Naruto's pulling on the chain thinking, 'How can he use this many clones?'

The ground underneath him erupted into smoke revealing ten more Narutos that jumped Ibiki all of them slapping restriction seals on his body cutting off his chakra. Ibiki fell to his knees and he looked at his ninjas noticing that no clones were no where near any of them, 'So while my attention was on Shi the clones moved over here disguising themselves as landscape. They trapped me by leading me into this direction. Superb.'

After they caught him the two clones that held the chain tied up Ibiki with it making it extremely difficult for him. Shi picked up Ibiki and told his team, "Okay Naruto send your clones in any direction so his team can't follow. We haven't passed just yet we still need to get him a safe distance from them. Takako keep you sensors up and make sure we're not followed."

Both Naruto and Takako agreed and Naruto was mixed in with his clones and instructed them to scatter. They all did and ran off in random directions, he even told a few to transform into his two teammates so the footprints would be mixed up. Once that was settled Ibiki instructed that they leave now and instructed them to keep a close eye on Ibiki so he doesn't try and make any kind of mark that could alert his team. They then left quickly making their way to a safe location. Naruto and Takako noticed that Shi didn't pause when he spoke so which meant that he was being more confident around them, but Naruto concluded it was because they were just comrades and to finish a mission he'd need to speak properly since any pause in orders could have bad results.

They made it to a disclosed location. Shi put Ibiki on the the ground and Naruto collapsed on his knees sweating and breathing heavily. Takako guessed that it was the strain from the clones, 'Had we not given him those soldier pills then we probably wouldn't have caught him.' Ibiki looked up and told them, "Your all doing well for these tests. No doubt had I really been caught like this then my team would search frantically for me and in which case at this point I'd either be dead or tortured about now. Since I'm guessing you all don't really know much about torture I can't have you continue from here, so you pass the second portion."

He saw the smirk on Takako and the usual unenthusiastic boys. Shi unshackled Ibiki from the chains letting him stand up. His team sat down in front of him waiting for the next part. Ibiki cleared his throat saying, "Now the third. This one is as I said will be one of trust and loyalty between not only yourselves, but also your village. I'm going to put you three through some semi-hard torture to see how much pain your willing to go through and how much your willing to protect your village's secretes. In the worst case scenario you may need to kill yourselves. Even the smallest detail about the village could be enormous info for our enemies. Understand?"

They all nodded, but were all a bit nervous. Ibiki summoned out three more clones and told them, "I'll now start the process. Remember, restrain yourselves as much as you can… after all… your comrades lives depend on you." Each clone placed a hand on their heads. Ibiki and his clones brought their opposite hands up extending their index and middle finger up. After focusing he said lowly, "Genjutsu Style: Vladimir's Horror." and he invaded their minds and began assaulting them with horrid images.

He could see them clench their teeth and their fists tightening trying to survive through this. Ibiki watched as his three clones kept their hands on their heads trying to get them to snap. Ibiki had his hands up so he can have a connection to his clones looking into his student's minds as well.

Shi was bombarded with images of his fellow monks being slaughtered and being attacked by the soldiers that killed his family. The pain felt unbelievably real that he almost couldn't stand it, tears kept coming down his face no matter how much he tried to wipe them away.

Ibiki had images of Orochimaru go through Takako's mind of the snake sannin killing her parents and even turning the knife on her cutting her open.

He needed them to feel extreme dread, terror, and pain from these experience since Kami knows the enemy will do a lot worse than just mental torture.

Naruto had images of Kakuzu abandoning him calling him useless and that he was no longer needed. Images of his brother, sister, mother, and father were also there of Iwa nins slaughtering them. Naruto was not willing to break he knows a lot of pain and he'd be damned if he let this beat him. Suddenly a vision of Hinata shot into view and how Kakuzu used his masks to kill her and as he laughed maniacally. Something snapped in him and he started to push the images to the farthest parts of him shouting, 'Get out of my head!" The visions Naruto was having shattered like glass and his eyes shot open.

The clone that had it's hand on Naruto's head was sent stumbling back and even dissipated. Ibiki was wide eyed at Naruto thinking, 'Such willpower. Enough to cancel out that genjutsu, but it's left him tired.' Naruto was on all fours trying to catch his breath. Ibiki saw the vision of that his clone placed in his head of Kakuzu killing the heiress and how it was that one that made him snap. Ibiki told his clones, "Keep up the pressure with them. Naruto's done for now." The clones agreed and continued the mind torture. Ibiki told Naruto, "You did good kid. With more experience you'll be able to reject things of that level easier without being gassed."

Naruto laid down on his back still catching his breath, 'Why? Why did that vision of Hinata bother me that much?' He gripped his fists to the point of turning white, 'I can't let that happen. She was one of the first people to show me kindness, but what if tou-san orders me to kill her? Could I even…' He immediately shook his thoughts from that and ignored them.

Ibiki continued his mind torture on his reaming two students and when enough was enough he told his clones, "Okay they've been at this for fifteen minutes, any longer and we'll have to worry about psychological damage." The clones nodded and cut off the genjutsu. Shi and Takako fell to their knees as well and like Naruto were trying to catch their breath. Takako ran off and threw up not being able to fully handle something like that, she wiped her mouth and went back over to her team. Ibiki told the three of them, "You guys continue to surpass my expectations. You still have a long way to go in the battle against torture however, but that's why you have me as your sensei. For now we move to the final step of this initiation."

Takako shouted, "We can't get a fucking two minute rest!" Ibiki shook his head, "Sorry, but no. I need to do this while it's fresh in your heads. So we'll start one by one. Shi, what have you learned about yourself, your team, and what it means to be a ninja?"

Shi gulped and thought about what he'd say, "I've learned that there is always and unpredictability during both training and real live missions. That you need to rely on your team and their skills and that the village is more important than my life. I need to work harder if I am to protect my teammates, I'm still a rookie."

Ibiki looked at Takako and she caught on that she was next, "Well sensei. I've learned that having a cool head during battle is what let me see tomorrow and that I need to control my anger both during and on leave from missions. Now that I have a team that I can respect based off of skill I can easily adapt to how we fight in the future. As Shi said I agree that I am also a rookie who thought the world revolves around me, now I know there is something bigger than me… my home and the people that live there."

Ibiki ventured his eyes to the blonde haired boy asking, "So Naruto?"

"The one individual is nothing. Teamwork, trust, and respect is what you need if you wish to live. If you don't trust or respect the ones you work with then you'll be doomed to death. I learned that from these experience and that I'd rather die than betray the ones who've trusted me up to this point and given me life worth meaning. All in all I understand what it means to have people you wish to protect."

After hearing their explanations Ibiki added, "Remember this kids. Go into battle ready to live then you'll surely die, but go into battle ready to die… then you'll live. These tests were to see if you can handle the physical and mental strain of being a ninja… and I'm glad to say that you've all passed each test and have proved yourselves capable of being a team."

All three let out a sigh of relief and relaxed a little more. Ibiki told his team, "You can have the rest of the day off. Your three deserve it, but meet back here tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock. We start our first C-Ranked mission the day after I need to get you all ready for that. Your all excused."

Naruto, Shi, and Takako stood up and saluted him saying in unison, "Arigatou sensei!" After they spoke they left going into different directions. Ibiki brought his hand to his chin and thought, 'Now to report to the Hokage about this." Ibiki brought his hands together and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

* Konoha *

Naruto was walking home at a snails pace still worn out from the day of fighting, tracking, and torture survival. He was glad with the team picks and how it all turned out and he loved the idea that he's being promoted because he worked for it and not because his father is the Hokage. Looking ahead he saw Hinata, Haru, and Sakura talking as they walked. Naruto's eyes fell on Hinata and the images of Kakuzu killing her came back. He immediately banished those thoughts from his mind and called out, "Haru-chan, Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan."

The three girls turned around and saw Naruto a bit beat up. Haru called out happily, "Hey nii-san. Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme, and myself passed our initiation test. Hinata-chan told me you guys were doing yours? How'd it go?"

Naruto responded, "We passed as well. We start training tomorrow." Hinata congratulated Naruto, "That's amazing Naruto-kun. You and Haru-chan are getting stronger and stronger."

Sakura also congratulated Naruto saying, "Yeah good job Naruto-kun." Naruto asked, "Where are you three off to?"

"I'm taking Haru-chan and Hinata-chan to get something to eat before we go home." said Sakura. Naruto nodded and he looked at Hinata asking, "Hinata-chan can I speak to you in private for a moment?" Hinata suddenly felt her stutter return, "H-H-Hai N-Naruto-kun." Naruto took Hinata's hand a guided her a good distance away from her two friends. Hinata was now blushing madly at the contact of their hands. Haru made a whistle at them making Hinata more nervous.

Sakura scolded Haru playfully, "Haru-chan your making Hinata more nervous." Haru couldn't stop her girly giggle, "I can't help it. Hinata and my brother are fairly close, besides Hinata knows Im teasing her." The two watched as Naruto and Hinata came to stop and they were out of hearing range so the two kunoichi couldn't hear what they were talking about.

They saw Naruto and Hinata's mouths moving but couldn't make out the words. Suddenly Hinata turned a bright red color after Naruto stopped talking and they could practically steam come out of her ears and she was pushing her two index fingers together nervously. Naruto however remained calm and cool as he always does. Hinata spoke and they could tell she was stuttering to the max and then nodded happily, but still looking sunburnt read all over. A moment later and Naruto said a few words then he looked over to Sakura and Haru waving goodbye to them and he left.

Haru and Sakura ran over to the still red Hinata who didn't even realize she was still pushing her index fingers together. Sakura waved her hand in front of Hinata's face trying to get her to snap out of it. Haru said to Hinata, "Hinata-chan what did Naruto-nii say?"

Hinata fumbled with her words, "He a-asked me o-o-out o-n a d-date." Sakura smiled and said, "This is a dream come true for Hinata-chan huh?"

"What did you say Hinata-chan" Haru asked excitedly. Hinata looked down and mumbled, "I-I said y-yes." Haru grabbed Hinata and asked, "He also said that he'll take you when both of you are not on missions huh?"

Hinata nodded and Sakura grabbed Haru and Hinata by the sleeves saying, "Well then no time to lose we have to get Hinata everything she'll need later and we need to break her of her stutter before their date." Hinata was about to tell them not yet, but when Haru spoke next she was drowned out, "Sakura-chan is right! Come on Hinata-chan we need to find you a good outfit to wear. Let's go!"

Sakura and Haru then proceeded to drag the poor girl to Ten-Ten's house to get Jia-Li to custom make an outfit for Hinata.

* Hokage Tower *

Minato was sitting at his desk smiling like an idiot after Kakashi and Ibiki just told him about how his kids did on their initiation tests. He was proud that both of them know the value of teamwork and how they put the village above themselves. Itachi and Arashi were in the room as well listening to the reports.

The Yondaime told Kakashi, "Keep a close eye on your team Kakashi. From what you've said Haru is still a bit bossy, Sakura is a bit love-stuck on Sasuke, and Sasuke is still a bit of a loner. Make sure you break them of those."

Kakashi told his old sensei, "Hai Hokage-sama. It shouldn't be too difficult with Haru being able to tell that this is a teamwork effort and she wants her friends to live, so she'll fall into line first I'm guessing." Minato looked at Itachi saying, "Is there anything you can do about Sasuke?"

"Sasuke-kun and myself don't even stay under the same roof. He won't listen to me no matter what I say or try to do." said Itachi. Minato was that wasn't the case, "Can you try anyway?"

Itachi could only nod at the request. Satisfied with just that Minato looked to Ibiki and said, "You say Naruto and his team exceeded expectations? You sure your not just exaggerating?"

"No sir. They used teamwork to their advantage in the first to tests, the third they refused to break as I mostly do when I need answers, and they learned a lot from the experiences. They don't let their past troubles interfere with their work as ninjas." Ibiki finished.

Arashi asked, "Naruto-kun is very strong and from how he acts I'd say he's very much like me and Itachi at that age. Shi has a very high intelligence and from how it stands Shikamaru and himself have the highest I.Q. of the recent ninjas that graduated from the academy." Ibiki added, "Atop with Takako's stealth and her ability as a sensor ninja I'm proud to say that I've assembled a top notch team despite only one being a fresh grad."

Itachi told Ibiki, "Age doesn't have anything to do about skill anymore it seems." Minato sighed and pulled out a file telling all of them, "This is considered an S-Classed secret and is not to be spoken outside of these walls ever." They all nodded understanding how serious an S-Classed secret is. Minato opened the file and said, "Jiraiya-sensei has alerted me that Orochimaru is starting to move again and that he's taken refuge in the newly established ninja village in Rice country."

Kakashi spoke out, "You mean the Sound Village?" Minato nodded, "Jiraiya is attempting to capture a few of the Sound nins and get some info out of them, but right now we can't find where the village is and the country itself is in poverty. They are also going to attend the upcoming Chunnin exams this year, but from what I'm told the venue has been changed."

"You mean it's not being held in Konoha anymore?" said Itachi. Minato nodded, "Yes, it's being held in Iwagakure this year."

Arashi said to his father, "Is that wise? I know Iwa won't do anything stupid, but I still don't trust the idea of sending Naruto and Haru there for the exams if they are able to go." Minato sighed, "I don't like it either which is why you will be going as the family escort to make sure nothing happens. If anything happens then there will be another ninja war and right now Iwa can't risk going to war with us again. Not when Suna is on our side."

Minato spoke again, "Now I need Ibiki and Kakashi to make sure their teams are getting as much training they can before these exams come up. As for Itachi and Arashi I'll need both of you to accompany Jiraiya in his mission and I want you two to leave tomorrow morning to the border of Rice country. Jiraiya will find you afterward."

Itachi and Arashi nodded understanding their mission. With nothing else Minato said, "Your all excused." The three jounin and the ANBU saluted their kage and left the room.

Minato went back to smiling still excited about the news of his youngest children. He got up and looked out at the village saying, "I think I should also kick up their training a notch to get them ready for the future. Maybe it's time I teach them the Rasengan." the young kage mused as he couldn't wait to get home and praise the twins.

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* Iwagakure Border *

Kakuzu and Hidan were sitting patiently at the border of Iwa awaiting orders on their next move. Hidan was using a whetstone on his three bladed scythe keeping it in good condition. Kakuzu was reading a book entitled, 'Journey Into the West'. Hidan tired of staying quite shouted, "Oi Kakuzu! What's this side mission the Leader has us going on! When the two of you were talking you both seemed to be very into this plan that I'm not aware of!"

Kakuzu ignored Hidan and heard him mumbled bastard under his breath. A familiar lump appeared in front of the two S-Classed nuke-nins and appearing out of the venus fly trap was Zetsu.

Zetsu grinned and told Kakuzu, "Leader wants you to move out. It's time." Kakuzu put the book away and told Hidan, "Let's go."

Hidan put his whetstone away and asked, "Oi teme where are we going?"

"We're going to Konoha." Kakuzu said in a low voice, "It's time I go and see how much little Naruto has grown."

(End of Chpater)

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All done the initiation is complete and to me it seems that this story is picking up again. Going a bit slow and I'm getting it moving how I want it. Thank you for being patient and I will see you all on the next update!


	17. Closer

Chapter Seventeen: Closer

Sorry that I didn't upload sooner, but I had other obligations to attend to and still do. This chapter is transitional and I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter so hopefully I'll be pumped up enough to write it non-stop, but we'll see. Anyway hope you like it! **ALSO THIS CHAPTER IS A BIT ON THE FOUL SIDE BECAUSE OF HIDAN'S MOUTH… YOU'LL SEE LATER!**

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* Team Kai: Summary *

Two weeks went by since the gennin teams began their lives as real ninjas, but while some of the rookie squads were doing D-Ranked missions one team jumped right into doing C-Ranked missions. Ibiki, Naruto, Shi, and Takako were on a mission where they had to escort a caravan of travelers from Konoha back to their hometown east just on the outskirts of Fire Country. As Ibiki said their first mission would be a C-Ranked mission unlike the other new teams. So far everything was going uneventful, but the man who asked for this mission told them that bandits may attack them for their precious cargo.

Takako groaned thinking that nothing would happen, but she was wrong when some bandits came charging at them. Takako, Shi, and Naruto ran out to meet them halfway and overpowered them easily. Ibiki stayed behind watching his students go to work and he could see that they were using teamwork when they fought and they made damn sure that no bandit got to the caravans.

One however ran around them and rushed at Ibiki attempting to stab him with his sword. Shi pulled out a chain he had hidden under his arm armor that had a hook at the end of it and he flung it at the bandit watching as it hooked under the man's chin and he yanked the chain pulling him back Takako ran up to the man and stabbed her tanto into the man's heart killing him.

Impressed with how they handled the situation also caused tension in the air that Ibiki felt. He didn't have to guess to know that the travelers were now afraid of his students because of their lack of emotion when they kill and it made them look kinda like monsters. Ibiki called them back to rejoin the group and they continued on with the mission as if nothing happened. The rest of the trip was uneventful and Team Kai returned back to Konoha with no trouble either.

The four were now standing before the Hokage after Ibiki told him about how the mission went and how it was handled. After hearing everything Minato excused the gennins so he could speak with Ibiki. The gennins did as they were told giving a polite bow to the Hokage and taking their leave from the room with only the Hokage and their sensei in the room.

Ibiki quickly told the Hokage, "They really are taking this seriously Hokage-sama." Minato tossed a document to the farthest part of his desk telling the jounin, "I can see that. They see each other as a team, but it also seems that since they only see this as a job they rather not be to familiar with each other."

Ibiki walked up to the window in time to see his students leave the building only to separate, "I'm worried Hokage-sama. True that I put this team together, but I had even half expected Takako to bring her two teammates together to at least act like a real team would. The only time they seem to speak to each other is during training or pass small talk during break."

"They have a goal and they don't want to get in the other's way of accomplishing wants to kill Orochimaru to establish sound based jutsu for Konoha and Shi wishes to re-establish the temple he grew up in and intends to retire and stay in the temple. Naruto on the other hand doesn't talk about what he wishes to do for the future, Haru keeps shouting that she'll be the first female Hokage and even Arashi has said that he was aiming to become the new Jounin Commander when Shikaku Nara retires or gives up his position. I think that these three see their team as something as a mutual effect with the need to only be together during training or missions. I have no trouble with that as long as they understand that they are a team." Minato told Ibiki.

Ibiki didn't respond and only started to think about how he could get the team to see each other as something more than people they 'need' to work with to move forward. However he can't force them if they don't want to since it might only drive them further apart from each other rather than bring them together. After their talk Ibiki excused himself from the Hokage's office.

Minato thought about the relationship Naruto, Takako, and Shi have with one another and how far they will go to defend their village and their comrades when the situation calls for it, but he only hoped since that's all he could do right now that… they didn't resort to killing each other to achieve their goals.

* Naruto *

Naruto separated from his team and was currently roaming around the village gaining praise from shop owners, townspeople, and other ninjas about his skills. Naruto paid no attention to everything that was being said since unnecessary praise did nothing except boost one's ego. Naruto made it home and decided to do some personal training.

On the way there however he ran into Hana, his brother's girlfriend. She saw Naruto and waved at him and as they got closer she said, "Hello Naruto-kun. How are you today?"

Naruto greeted her back, "Hello Hana-chan, I just got back from another C-Ranked mission not to long ago."

"Oh yeah your brother told me about that. From what I hear is that Kiba and Haru started a fuss that they were still doing D-Ranked missions." said Hana. Naruto kept his emotionless expression confirming what she heard, "Yeah Haru was asking dad to put her and her team on better missions. Kiba came to me as well asking what he needed to do to get better missions as well."

Hana sighed, "Yeah that's Kiba for ya. Anyways are you going back to your home?" Naruto nodded and Haru asked, "Mind if I accompany you since I'm on my way to see Arashi-kun myself." Naruto again nodded and led the way to the Hokage mansion.

* Hokage Mansion *

Hana and Naruto walked inside and Hana headed upstairs to Naruto's brother's room and Naruto went into the kitchen to find his mother. Walking in the kitchen he didn't find his mother, but instead found a note that read:

'Haru-chan, Naruto-kun, I went shopping to get a few things ready for dinner tonight and won't be back for a few hours. I'll be home as soon as I can, but until then if your hungry there are some snacks laid out on the table. See you two when I get home!

-Love Mom'

After reading his mother's note he looked on the table to see some rice balls were laid out on the table. He walked over and took two and go to the training ground to do his training by himself. Something caught his attention that he at first didn't understand, his stamina was much more higher now, like two weeks ago when they were doing their initiation test he was able to last out a bit longer because of the soldier pill however he should've been way more exhausted because of the after affect of the soldier pill. Naruto was starting to get concerned that things were happening to his body that isn't natural. He wanted to tell someone, but decided against it.

Ignoring all the questions in his head he ate one of the rice balls and set the other one down to do his training. He pulled out a scroll and unsealed the contents which was a rubber ball, taking it and placing it in the palm of his hand he started to focus his chakra into it making it spiral in every direction to try and make it pop. The ball started to shake violently and lumps appeared on the ball. After a moment Naruto felt the chakra concentrate to only one area and immediately stopped what he was doing. Every time it did that the balloon would make a large hole making the air leak out and that's not what he needed.

Taking a good few breaths he tried again to try and get the ball to pop. Him and Haru have been doing this exercise the following day after their senseis passed them and as a congratulations they were being taught the Rasengan by their father. The first step was making a water balloon pop by rotating the water and the two finished quicker than their father had expected, well Haru took a few days longer since she didn't have good chakra control and needed to use an alternate way of rotating the water, but she did accomplish her task and like Naruto she was doing the second step as well.

Focusing over and over he couldn't exactly get it right, although he was getting closer to finishing this step… he just knew he was.

* Kushina & Haru *

Mother and daughter walked inside the house both carrying grocery bags and placing them on the table. Kushina was smiling after hearing that her and her team were summoned for another D-Ranked mission and she started to demand better missions from her father and she heard about how Minato caved and gave them a mission to Wave country to help escort a man there safely. How did she know? Well it's because Haru kept saying out loud about how she was so happy that she finally got a better mission.

Kushina and Haru were putting a few of the things they bought at the store away, Kushina noticed that two of the rice balls she made were gone and she knew who could've taken them, "Haru-chan. It seems Naruto-kun is back from his mission and I think he might be in the training ground."

Immediately the blonde girl ran at the table snatching a rice ball and ran to the training ground. She's been real competitive with Naruto about almost everything and she didn't want to admit it, but she was real jealous of her twin's quick ability to get stronger. She pushed the sliding doors to the training ground open quickly and saw Naruto sitting in a meditating position with the air ballon in his right hand. Running up next to him she shouted, "You started without me nii-nii!" and grabbed a rubber balloon, sitting across from him and held the ball in her right hand as well and used her left hand to start moving her hand over the ball trying to pop the balloon.

Naruto was watching Haru improve more when she watched him and learned from him. He still remembers the promise that he, Hinata, and Haru made to get stronger and become the new Sannin once they got older. From what Haru told him about Hinata, she told him that the shy heiress was training non-stop and she said it was to impress him. Naruto was surprised that he was the cause of making his sister and Hinata become stronger and didn't understand if they wanted to prove something to him or to everyone else and are just using him to do it.

Naruto saw that instead of popping the balloon that Haru had leaked out air instead and she angrily grabbed another one and tried again. Naruto smiled and began focusing at the task at hand.

* Hyuuga Compound *

Hinata had on a black shirt, blue pants, and was barefoot. She was fighting inside the dojo against other Hyuugas her own age or a few years older and was sweating profusely. Her byakugan was flaring and she ran at the Hyuga members fearlessly parrying and hitting someone every now and then. Hiashi was watching from the side impressed with his daughter's improved footwork, power, skill, finesse, and her personality in training. Usually she was so shy and concerned about who she was fighting that she would get overwhelmed quickly and taken down with ease.

He had Hanabi and Hinata fight again and it was a back and forth battle between the two, but in the end he saw Hinata drop her guard at the last moment and was hit in her stomach sending her flying back. Normally at that point he would be disappointed with her performance, but he had troubling judging whether she dropped her guard on purpose or if she got to ahead of herself.

Both his daughters were proving themselves capable of become the next heir, but choosing which one was difficult.

Hinata knew her father watched her train now since before she left the academy. Sure in training at home she was doing excellent, it was just that showing off around others got to her and her shyness seemed to kick in and her courage depleted quickly after and it was those two things that she wished to get rid of the most only wishing that she could be like Haru who could speak her mind and not worry about the consequences of what she says.

She ducked under a palm thrust and shot both her open palms forward hitting the male Hyuuga once in the shoulder and the other hit his thigh crippling him. After he fell Hinata looked around and saw the older Hyuuga members ran up to the seven kids reversing the effects of the Jyuuken strikes. Hinata politely bowed to the seven saying, "Arigatou for a great training session!"

The seven Hyuugas stood up and bowed as well telling her she did excellent. She smiled at them and went to grab a towel drying the sweat off of her forehead, face, and neck, she saw her father and walked over to him something she usually did when he came to watch. Hinata worried about one thing in the Hyuuga clan which was becoming heiress. She loved her family despite that everyone was too serious for their own good, but the thought of leading a clan was something she was afraid she couldn't do and it was that she would be in arranged marriages to bring up the clan's reputation and she didn't like that she wouldn't be in control of who she could choose to love and marry. That was another reason why she would loose to her little sister, Hanabi was strong and Hinata had to go in one-hundred percent against her though giving up at the last moment was her only option by slipping up.

Hiashi look down at his daughter and told her, "When do you go on your next mission?" Hinata bowed before him and answered, "Our next mission is tomorrow, another D-Ranked mission around the village. Kurenai-sensei believes we will be ready for the next step possibly in the next few days, but she just wants to make sure we can improve as a team before then."

He's missed so much from his daughter, her crippling shyness that would cause her to stutter was long gone, her improvement in her courage in his presence, and how much she's grown in general. A pang of regret coursed through his veins of not noticing it from the beginning. He turned showing his daughter his back, "Go take a shower, then take a break for the day. You deserve it."

Hinata bowed her head and then got up to leave. Closing the dojo doors she walked with the towel in her hand thinking about the one real thing on her mind and that was her date with Naruto. That thought made her blush furiously and she was wondering when that day would be, but she hoped it was real soon and she had got her outfit she was gonna wear that day set up in her closet and Haru got Hinata some make-up and told her a little more about her brother that she didn't know. She couldn't help but laugh that even though Haru was a tomboy, but she surpassingly knew a lot about dates and what to prepare for. Hinata knew never to judge a book by a cover though she never expected Haru to know so much when she herself had never been on a date.

Walking into her room she saw her little sister Hanabi sitting on her bed as if waiting for her to come back. Hinata placed the sweaty towel on the back of a chair in her room and asked happily, "Something wrong Hanabi-chan?"

Before Hinata used to feel uncomfortable around her little sister, but that long passed. Hanabi was still sitting on the bed and a look of determination in her eyes, "Nee-chan I heard that your going out on a date with Naruto Namikaze. Is that true?"

"Where did you hear that from Hanabi-chan?" asked Hinata wondering where this conversation was going to go. Hanabi hopped off of the bed and walked up to her sister, "I went to the Yamanaka flower shop to get a bouquet for our sensei who's retiring at the academy as a farewell gift and I overheard your friends Sakura and Ino talking about it. I don't really like the guy. He seems like he's cold and always calculating an exact contrast to your personality nee-chan."

Hinata didn't know that Hanabi was worried about her, "Don't worry Hanabi-chan, Naruto-kun is a gentleman I assure you."

Hanabi crossed her arms and asked, "I still don't trust him completely yet. When are you guys going on your date?"

"I'm not sure. It's whenever we have a few days off from training and missions. He told me that he'll contact me once we he has some time off." Hinata said getting out some clothes to go take a bath in the family's bath house. Hanabi wasn't so sure about this whole date and didn't want someone to use her older sister for their own gains. She has always known about how other ninjas and civilians try to get in good with ninja clans just for their own purposes and it was also boys in general.

Hanabi watched her sister leave and decided to keep an eye on Naruto in case he had some alternate motive for asking out her big sister.

* Three Hours Later: Hokage Mansion *

Naruto and Haru were both exhausted and their chakra supplies were a bit high, but their bodies could only take so much. Arashi and Hana were watching the two blondes on all fours trying to catch their breath so they could continue.

Naruto wanted to master this jutsu more than any other since this was a family ninjutsu just like the Hiraishin no Jutsu and it was important that he learn this jutsu. Naruto forced himself to stand up and held his right hand out that had the ball and he started to force denser chakra into the ball making it rotate in all directions making lumps form on the rubber ball. Haru watched in surprise as Naruto stood up and tried to make the ball burst.

Naruto felt the chakra inside focus to one side and immediately adapted it to return to spinning in all directions and a few seconds later the ball burst. Naruto smiled and then promptly fell to the ground unconscious, but Haru stood up and caught her twin before he could hit the ground. Arashi and Hana dashed over to where the two were and even though Hana was a vet she still knew a little bit about treating wounds of a human.

She examined him for a moment and told the two, "He'll be fine, he's just exhausted. I'm surprised that he went this long, most kids would've given up before the two of you hours ago from chakra exhaustion or because their bodies gave out. You two are something else Haru-chan."

Haru looked at her oldest brother who was smiling brightly at her. Arashi picked up Naruto and said, "Well Haru-chan let's go inside it's gonna be dark soon and-"

"I don't want to!" shouted Haru. Hana and Arashi watched as she grabbed a rubber ball and tried to make it burst as well. Hana tried to reason with her, "Haru-chan that should be enough for today. You don't wanna pass out like Naruto-kun do you?"

Haru tried rotating the chakra and air in the ball using her right hand and then slamming it on top of the rubber ball and watched as lumps formed indicating that the chakra was going in every direction, but the ball made a hole and air leaked out from it. Haru tossed the flat ball away and grabbed another one that was laying on the floor.

Arashi asked Hana, "Mind if you watch her for a little bit, I'm gonna take Naruto inside." Hana nodded and sat back down on the grass to watch Haru attempt to make the ball burst. After Arashi left Hana asked, "What's wrong Haru-chan?"

Haru fell to her knees and dropped the ball sobbing a bit, "W-Why can't I d-d-do it quick l-like nii-san? H-He's way s-stronger than me?" Hana got up and put a hand on Haru's back calming her, "Now, now Haru-chan your just as skilled as both of your brothers. Hey listen you and Naruto-kun are learning the Rasengan at a faster rate than Arashi-kun was."

Wiping her tears away with her arm she told the older kunoichi, "I try my hardest to be on equal footing with Naruto-nii, but he only gets stronger and stronger at a faster and faster rate."

Haru sat the girl down and then took a seat next to her, "You have to remember Haru-chan that he had a different upbringing than you and Arashi and caused him to see things differently than most ninjas your age. Also there is something that is driving him to get stronger and he's doing everything in his power to achieve it… What is it that is driving you to become stronger?"

The little blonde girl brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs telling Hana, "I-I-I just want to prove that I'm Haru Namikaze and not the Demon Fox that attacked Konoha. I know no one says it when I'm around, but they do think it… I-I j-just know they do."

"Maybe your letting those thoughts get to you more than they should and not giving it your all. Your Haru Namikaze and no one can take that away from you! You'll get stronger and stronger I just know it!" shouted an enthusiastic Hana.

Haru looked at Hana in a all new light and a smile graced the girl's lips and she grabbed the rubber ball and shouted, "I will show everyone who I really am! I'm Haru Namikaze!"

* Twenty Minutes Later *

Minato just got in and saw Naruto passed out on the couch and Arashi explained to his mother and father what happened and needless to say that both parents were beaming brightly with pride at how quickly the two were learning. Arashi told them that he was going to fetch Haru, but the sliding door opened and they saw Hana walk in carrying a passed out Haru piggyback style. Kushina, Arashi, and Minato saw in her right hand was a shredded piece of rubber and upon closer inspection they could see the smile of triumph on her face.

Now the two parents were even more proud that both were closer to mastering the Rasengan. Kushina took her daughter from Hana and said proudly, "All of my kids are getting stronger so quickly."

Minato smiled and rubbed the top of his daughter's head saying, "All three of you kids are making your old man proud." Arashi told both of his parents, "Naruto and Haru are making their marks in this village and soon their names will be famous everywhere like yours tou-san." Minato placed his hand on his son's shoulder proud of his oldest as well.

The Hokage looked at the clock and told him, "You should escort Hana home before it really get's dark." Arashi agreed to that and Hana bid farewell to the happy couple and was led out of the house following Arashi and the two jumped away.

Minato picked Naruto off of the couch and took him to his room and Kushina did the same for Haru. After tucking their two ninjas for bed they left to retire to their own room early for sleep.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

(Hidan's Foul Language)

* 157 Miles from Land of Fire Border *

Kakuzu was walking at a normal pace carrying a headless body to Konoha to meet up with Naruto. Hidan kept probing Kakuzu for answers about Naruto and why he's never heard him talk about the guy before and was irritated when Kakuzu either avoided the questions or threatened to kill him and finally Kakuzu handled the problem of Hidan's motor mouth. Taking a break he tossed the headless body off to the side and took out a sack that had a seal tag with the kanji for 'silence' written on it. Taking the tag off he could hear shouting, "YOU FUCKING MOTHER FUCKER! GET ME OUT OF HERE NOW!"

Kakuzu reached into the sack and heard the voice shout again, "CAREFUL DOUCHE BAG OR YOU'LL TEAR OUT MY HAIR!" Kakuzu pulled out Hidan's head that didn't look too pleased to see him. Kakuzu set Hidan's head in front of him and Kakuzu continued with his foul language, "OI LISTEN HERE YOU ASSHOLE! DON'T YOU EVER DO SOME SHIT LIKE THIS AGAIN OR I SWEAR THAT I'LL CUT OF YOU BALLS AND FEED' EM TO YA! HEY BITCH ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME HUH? YOU WORTHLESS PILE OF SHIT!"

Kakuzu pulled out a map and began trying to figure out how far they were trying to drown out Hidan's mouth. Finally Kakuzu told Hidan, "If you keep this up Hidan then I could just chuck your body off a cliff and attach your head onto that of a forty year old fat chick from a brothel."

Hidan shut his mouth and nervously said, "O-O-Oi, o-oi Kakuzu-san y-your j-j-joking ri-right?" Hidan chuckled nervously as if it was a joke, but he saw the seriousness in his eyes and said, "Okay, Okay I take it all back and I'll shut up I really will! I promise!"

Standing up Kakuzu grabbed Hidan's body and set it down next to his head and lined up the head and body and used his threads to reattach the two. After the stitches were in place Hidan sat up and felt that his neck was really stiff and attempted to crack it. Kakuzu told his partner, "Don't mess with the stitches or your head will fall off."

Hidan looked at Kakuzu angrily shouting, "Eat a dick and let's go! Let's find this guy your so eager to see!" Hidan stormed off first in the direction of Fire Country and Kakuzu followed closely behind him. The two walked in silence and Kakuzu pulled out a piece of paper with three sets of seal designs on it each with a kanji for 'Key', 'Memory', 'Restore' written on it. Kakuzu stuffed it in his pocket again and thought, 'How strong are you getting Naruto? Guess I'll just have to wait and see.'

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

Again more of a transitional and I sometimes hate writing transitional chapters, but sometimes they are necessary just so I don't get to lazy and they usually get me pumped for writing the next chapter. Okay let me stop here so I can get to work on my next chapter. Thank you for reading!


	18. Contact

Chapter Eighteen: Contact

I'm so sorry I haven't updated in God knows how long, but I kinda got lazy and I wanted to relax after finishing my 'Naruto's Rise' story not to long ago. I really want to get the pace of this story to pick up and it will in the next few chapters. Thank you everyone who patiently waited for me to update.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* The Next Day: Training Ground 12: Team Kai *

Ibiki was going all out against his students knocking them all over the place, but they had great stamina, a high tolerance for pain, and a will driving them forward. Takako tossed six shurikens at her sensei, Ibiki caught each one in the air and tossed them back at her. Shi jumped in front of Takako knocking the shurikens away using his arm guards.

Takako let over Shi and rushed at Ibiki with her tanto in hand, Naruto appeared from out of the trees both of his Black Mamba blades in hand. Ibiki remained calm and avoided both of his students.

Shi focused his chakra in his palms and brought his hand up and shouted, "Monk Fighting Style: Holy Strike!" Shi slammed his palm into the ground making a shockwave travel in Ibiki's direction. Takako and Naruto leapt into the air avoiding the shockwave that made Ibiki loose his balance.

Naruto charged his chakra into his blades as he descended onto Ibiki shouting, "Wind Style: Thousands Wind Slash!" Naruto began swinging both blades quickly making wind chakra shoot out in the form of slashes. Ibiki brought his arms up to defend, but the blades cut right through him making him fall on one knee. Unusually many cracks appeared on his body and even deep gashes and yet no blood came out.

Takako landed a few feet away and she did a few handsigns turning around she opened her mouth thinking, 'Sound Style: Harpy's Screech.' a sound wave shot out of her throat destroying a bit of the ground and when it hit Ibiki his body shattered entirely. Afterward she fell on her knees holding her throat.

Shi went over to her and helped her up saying, "We did good this time. The rock clone was destroyed." Naruto walked over to his teammates putting his short swords in their sheath. They heard clapping and saw Ibiki walked out telling them, "You guys did excellent again. Get ready we're going on another mission in a moment."

Takako shouted in a horse voice, "What no break!" Then promptly started to cough.

"Nope. It's an easy one, we just need to deliver some supplies to the northern border patrols. We deliver the message and just help out for two days patrolling the border." Ibiki explained, "Meet me at the north gate in twenty minutes. This was a last minute mission from the Hokage, so let's get it done." His team nodded and vanished quickly running to their homes to get ready.

* Hokage Mansion *

Naruto walked to his home and saw Sakura and Sasuke waiting at the gate wearing packs, "What are you guys doing here?"

Sakura and Sasuke turned around and saw Naruto approaching them, Sakura politely said, "Hello Naruto-kun, we're here to pick up Haru-chan. We got our first C-Ranked mission today."

"Maybe that will calm Haru down. Where too?" asked Naruto. Sasuke looked away from Naruto not wanting to answer so Sakura explained, "Well our mission is to take a bridge builder back to his home in Wave country and help out with the construction of the bridge."

All three of the gennins attention was at the door when the saw Haru run out with her backpack on, "Oh hey Naruto-nii, sorry running a bit late. I'll see you in a week!" Haru started running off leaving her team behind. Sakura shouted, "See ya Naruto-kun! Hey Haru-chan wait up!" Naruto and Sasuke locked eyes for a moment before he strolled off following his team.

Naruto ignored him and ran inside to get his things as well. He ran up to his room and packed everything he'd need to go on this mission, double checking to make sure that he had everything he ran downstairs to get ready to go out the door, but almost ran into his mother. Kushina's instincts kicked in and she twirled on toes of her feet avoiding running into her son.

Needless it stunned Naruto to see her move so gracefully and without hesitation. Kushina was also carrying the laundry from outside and she giggled, "We need to be more careful Naruto-kun. So where are you off to?" Naruto shook of his stunned expression to tell his mother, "Tou-san is sending us on a mission to patrol the north border and deliver some supplies. We'll be gone for at least two days."

Kushina grinned ear to ear, 'Haru-chan is getting sent off on a mission to Wave, Naruto-kun is going to the north borders, and Arashi said that he is needed for a jounin exercise and won't be back until tomorrow morning…. which means it'll be just me and Minato-kun.' She began to snicker making her son uncomfortable.

"Okay~, well I'll be going now kaa-san so I'll see you in a few days." Naruto turned around to leave, but he felt his mother wrap her arms around him hugging him. Naruto was taken by surprise though remained motionless. Kushina rested her chin on the top of his head saying to him, "Naruto-kun… be careful out there. I know that you've done C-Ranked missions a few times already, but sometimes the unexpected can happen. I know I'm just worrying over nothing though I can't help it."

Naruto told her, "I'll be fine kaa-san."

"I know, like I said though I can't help but worry about the three of you, hell I can't even stop worrying about your father when he goes on a diplomatic mission to another village. You, Haru, and Arashi are my babies and I can't help but worry about you three… I love you all as much as a mother could." after she said that she kissed Naruto on the top of his head making him blush a little which was new for him.

Naruto wiggled out of his mother's hug and told her, "I-I'll be fine kaa-san. I'll see you again soon." Kushina smiled and followed him to the front door and watched him jump off, Naruto turned his head as he was in mid air to see his mother blow a kiss to him. Naruto grabbed his chest and felt his heart jump beats, he's never had this feeling before and he can't seem to understand it fully. He's read many books about it but has never been in a situation like this. He landed on the main roads and started walking looking up at the sky, he could hear people call out to him which were the usual praise of him being the Hokage's son. Somehow though one voice caught his attention.

"Naruto-kun!"

He turned his head into the direction of the voice seeing Hinata walk up to him with a little girl standing close by. Hinata walked up to him with a smile on her face, "Hi Naruto-kun."

Naruto responded, "Hello Hinata-chan. Who's that?"

Hinata looked behind her and answered, "That's my little sister Hanabi." Naruto and Hanabi locked eyes and he could see that her eyes held distrust in him and he told Hinata, "I don't think she likes me."

"She's probably just shy that's all Naruto-kun. She doesn't hate you."

Naruto eyes left Hanabi and went back to Hinata. He explained to her that he was going on a mission to the borders for a few days and Hinata also told him that she was going on a mission as well, but will be around the village. Naruto asked her, "After your mission what will you be doing after the next few days?"

Hinata brought her finger to rest on her chin thinking about it, "Well after this mission, Kurenai-sensei is gonna teach us a few useful jutsu among other things, but other than that nothing else really."

Naruto continued staring at her asking, "Then how about we go on that date after I return from my mission." Hinata's face turned a new shade of red at the thought of their date being so soon. Hinata hesitated, but tried to answer as quickly as she could, "I-I'd l-like th-that N-Naruto-kun." she said nervously.

"Good, then I'll pick you up for our date this Saturday then. I look forward to it Hinata-chan. Well I have to go, my sensei will be upset if I'm not on time."

She quickly nodded, "O-Of course N-Naruto-kun. I can't w-wait for our d-d-date either, p-please don't let me k-keep you." She was cursing that her stutter still remained with her. Naruto glanced at Hinata's sister and saw that the little girl was glaring at him, 'She seems to be overly protective of her sister…' thought Naruto.

The blonde Romeo grabbed Hinata's hand and kissed the back of it saying, "I'll see you this Saturday then Hinata-chan." and with that he left. After he was gone Hanabi looked from the direction in which Naruto left then to her sister seeing that she didn't even move an inch from where she currently stands. Worried that something happened she walked around to look at Hinata and was amazed. Hinata was bright red and she her eyes seemed almost lifeless.

"Oi, nee-chan! You okay!"

No response came from Hinata and Hanabi cursed that he left her sister in such a state, but wondered how he could leave her sister like this from such a simple kiss to the hand.

* North Gate *

Shi was sitting alone at the gate tossing a few small pebbles at the wall out of boredom. Takako was cleaning her tanto with her kit that she bought with the money she got from their missions. They both noticed Naruto walking over to them and so began the awkward silence between the team.

Ibiki appeared sometime later seeing that his team was yet again not saying a word to each other, "You know talking to your teammates and getting to know each other better really helps the atmosphere."

Takako put her cleaning kit away and said, "We already learned a lot about each other when we were first brought together, so why else do we need to learn more about each other."

Ibiki sighed, "You'd be surprised, however that will have to wait another day. Let's get moving." Shi, Naruto, and Takako walked up to him and all four ran out of the village and toward the North border.

* Summary of Mission *

Naruto found that this mission had it's perks. He was back in the wild, he hunted for his own food rather than use the food he brought from home or the food they took with them to the guards of the Northern border. So far one day went by and everything was uneventful, no one attacked, they checked travelers for any kind of suspicion, and they would just patrol the border incase someone attempted to enter into the Land of Fire illegally. Usually ninjas would pass through the easiest and it was difficult for normal people cause unless you knew where you were going, then you were sure to get lost.

All the ninja villages had problems of other ninjas sneaking into their territories since the border areas were so large and difficult to watch every point at every moment, so it was only natural a ninja would slip in and out on occasions.

Ibiki, Takako, Naruto, and Shi set up at the building the border patrol ninjas would use as a base camp to rest and relax. Naruto caught a few rabbits and started to skin them to prepare to cook, the little blonde liked to keep up his tracking and hunting skills just so if in the unlikely event where he needs to do so again then he'll have his skills as sharp as ever.

Everyone was sitting and a few talked to Ibiki asking him a number of questions, until another ninja broke into the room shouting, "We have trouble! A number of bandits are attacking a caravan containing supplies that need to be delivered to Konoha!"

Team Kai and three other jounins jumped up and followed the messenger to the location of where the bandits were at.

* Five Minutes Later *

When the eight Konoha ninjas arrived two jounins were attacking a number of bandits killing them off and so they still joined in to keep the peace. Ibiki looked around and noticed that two bandits did some ninja handsigns and shouted, "Be careful! There are ninjas mixed in with the bandits! Capture one alive for interrogation!" Sure enough Ibiki was right, there were a number of ninjas pretending to be regular bandits. This was used as a tactic by ninjas to kill other ninjas who were wouldn't suspect it. Thankfully Ibiki spotted it and the Konoha ninjas were more on guard and fought back the ninjas mixed in with the bandits.

Two ninjas attacked Naruto, but Naruto could easily overpower them. Merely toying with them he kept buying them into attacking.

Both ninjas were infuriated that a simple boy was messing with them like this. As they fought Naruto realized something, that after awhile they kept trying to injure him rather than kill him judging by the trajectory of their attacks, but before he realized it he was deep into the woods, but he could hear faint sounds of the battle in the distance. This was bad since getting separated had it's consequences, so he did what needed to be done.

Wind spiraled around both his fists and he dashed at both men hitting both in their stomachs shouting, "Wind Style: Shredding Wind Barrage!" The wind exploded sending both men flying back and smashing into a number of trees before stopping. Naruto dusted himself off and said out loud, "Gotta get back to my team." he took two steps then heard a voice he hadn't heard in a long time.

"Been a long time…"

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes widened, his breathing became irregular, and his fists shook. He turned around slowly and saw a man standing before him.

"Naruto-kun, my how you've grown… Though the look on your face tells me that something is amiss."

Naruto struggled with his words, "K-Kakuzu? I-I mean t-tou-san."

Kakuzu was standing a few feet away from Naruto looking down at him saying, "Stuttering? This isn't like you, your emotions are always solid and without hesitation. Have these past few years caused you to lose what you once were?"

The little blonde shook his head and calmed down replying, "No I'm still that guy. What's going on here? Where have you been?"

Instead of answering Kakuzu walked over to a tree and asked, "Before I answer. Tell me boy, how has your life been since we last met?"

Naruto brought his hand up to his head shouting, "What happened to my memories? It feels like you left me right after we lived in Getsugakure, but I can remember some vague training regiments you would instruct me with. I-I can't make any of it out!"

"I'll ask one…. last…. time…. How has your life been since we last met?"

Naruto could hear the tone in his voice change and answered, "W-Well it's been…. it's been…."

Kakuzu watched the boy and then sighed, "I knew this would happen. Being with your real family has caused all the work I've put into making you an exceptionally strong ninja is being drowned out."

"No I've gotten much more stronger than I have since we last met! I'll prove it now!" Naruto jumped at Kakuzu with wind circling his fist and shouted, "Wind Style: Shredding Wind Hook!" Naruto did a swinging hook punch with his right arm aimed at Kakuzu.

The nuke nin smirked and grabbed Naruto's fist receiving a few cuts in his arm from the jutsu, but Naruto was in shock as this attack is meant to send his enemies flying and yet Kakuzu grabbed his fist and only suffered a few minor cuts from the attack. "You've gotten stronger, but I'm still much more stronger than you. You attacked me without thinking, something that you normally don't do as well. You've changed too much over these years." said Kakuzu.

"I don't doubt that you have gotten stronger, but to kill me you'll need more intense training." Kakuzu let go of Naruto's fist and backed up, "You actually are much more stronger, but those other emotions that are moving in are interfering with your training."

Naruto looked behind him hearing one of Shi's attacks rock the ground. Kakuzu looked in the same direction saying, "Don't worry, they won't get here anytime soon. My associate is making sure of that."

"You sent those bandits and ninjas?"

Kakuzu replied, "Yes I did. In order to get to you. Let's not dwell on your 'mission' but rather your 'real' mission that Pain and myself assigned to you."

Naruto leapt back from Kakuzu looking confused. Kakuzu explained, "Let's see where your loyalties truly lie. You have until the end of the month to bring your target to the rendezvous point before we move on." He then pulled out the paper with the seals on them and rushed at Naruto slamming it into Naruto's face. Making a one handed seal with his free hand that caused the markings on the paper to glow brightly.

A second later Naruto's eyes widened and he began to scream in pain, Kakuzu held him down making sure he couldn't squirm away. Naruto was feeling immense pain as memories that were locked away started to pour into his brain, images of men in black cloaks, dangerous assignments, extreme training regimes, and a specific jutsu.

Kakuzu kept the seal on Naruto's face making sure that all three seals inside his head were removed properly, Naruto's screams died down to that of a few whimpers, then stopped entirely. Kakuzu stood up and saw that Naruto was sprawled out on the ground catching his breath, afterward Kakuzu leaned against a tree asking him, "What's your mission?"

Naruto rolled over so that he was on all fours still trying to catch his breath, "My… My mission is… to capture Haru Namikaze... the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox."

"Good boy. When's the time frame and where do we meet?"

"Capture her by the end of or before the month ends and take her to the rendezvous point up in the mountaineer area that separate the north-east borders between the Land of Fire and Kusagakure."

Kakuzu stared at the boy as he stood up and said, "It seems you remember everything now. Me and my partner will be waiting at a bridge titled the 'Bridge Linking Life with Death' remember it?"

Naruto explained, "Yeah I know where it is." Naruto looked up and Kakuzu could see the coldness in his eyes returned and his unemotional mask was back into place. "What about when I'm tracked by other ninjas, I doubt that I can escape all of them if they come after me."

"Two other ninjas from our organization will handle that situation. Don't worry about it, just capture her in the confusion and bring her to us and we'll take it from there." explained Kakuzu, he could hear the battle die down thinking that Hidan possibly killed a few ninjas, but time was short and they needed to move. Kakuzu strolled over to Naruto saying to him, "This mission is important, if you fail then it could spell your capture, imprisonment, or even death if Konoha catches you. Our other two ninjas don't have any obligations to save you if you fail. From this point on like before you'll be on your own."

Naruto looked at Kakuzu saying, "I got it. I have no trouble with this one, Haru trusts me to the point where she'll follow me willingly. I can make this work."

"Good, I'll be taking my leave now."

Naruto asked him before he left, "What of my team?"

Kakuzu stopped and looked back at Naruto asking, "Worried about them?"

The blonde scoffed and said, "No, but it'd be a hassle if one or both died and I need to be placed on a different team temporarily."

"Then you shouldn't even bother with that then. Check those emotions Naruto-kun, they'll be the death of you." Kakuzu turned again to leave thinking, 'This will present a problem.'

Naruto watched as Kakuzu disappeared into the darkness. Naruto watched where Kakuzu just walked off and couldn't help but feel a void between himself and Kakuzu, but he quickly ignored it remembering how all the times Kakuzu told him how emotions betray you and make you do stupid things. Steeling his emotions Naruto darted off into the direction where the sounds of battle still raged.

Shi blocked a flying three scythed weapon with his metal guards making sure the weapon didn't hit him. Before Team Kai could go searching for Naruto they were ambushed by a man psychotic man wielding a red three bladed scythe attached to a metal cable. He easily killed all the bandits, ninjas, and two Konoha jounins like they were lambs. This man's taijutsu and kenjutsu skills were far superior to his and Takako.

Takako was knocked out on the ground when this stranger knocked her into a tree making her lose consciousness. Ibiki had picked up sickle and a samurai sword from the dead bodies of the bandits fighting alongside his student. Ibiki closed the distance with the man swinging the sickle making it rip into his ribs and could see blood gushing out.

"Damn that hurt!"

Ibiki was surprised when the man showed no real sign of pain aside from realizing he had been stabbed, but he didn't react the way someone should.

Hidan was told to fight these guys so that Kakuzu could speak with Naruto. Delaying them was the plan, but they didn't say he couldn't kill so he just indulged himself in a slaughter of the men they hired and even got two of the Konoha ninjas. He recognized Ibiki off top because of the man's reputation. Ibiki kicked Hidan in his stomach making him stumble back and distanced himself shouting at Shi, "Take Takako a safe distance away and protect her!"

Shi didn't argue, he ran to the tree where Takako was at and picked her up putting some distance between his sensei and the mysterious ninja. Watching from a distance he could see sparks fly and the sound of metal hitting each other at an alarming rate. He heard a sound behind him and saw Naruto jump down next to him asking, "What's going on?"

"Where have you been?"

"I had trouble dealing with a few ninjas that kept laying traps and running away." Naruto lied, "Who's sensei fighting against?"

Shi explained the situation to Naruto and how things were going, Naruto told him, "I'll summon some shadow clones to watch Takako so that we can go help sensei in dealing with this situation. Like the plan?"

Shi told him, "It's too simple, but at the moment we have no other choice." With that said, Naruto did the necessary handsign to summon out his clones. Dividing up his chakra evenly he created three clones and instructed them to protect Takako. Shi and Naruto then ran into the direction where their sensei was battling.

Ibiki was kept on the move avoiding the scythe weapon being tossed at him and was careful of his surrounding at the same time making sure that he didn't trip, fall, or get trapped. Hidan kept up his sadistic smile as he swung his weapon around like it was nothing. The battle was a back and forth one with Ibiki not being able to get close enough or with Hidan making a hit with his weapon.

Hidan shouted, "Why don't you stop running teme and fight me!" swinging his scythe again. Ibiki timed his attack just right and tossed the sickle at Hidan, but the rogue ninja moved the metal cable in front of him knocking it away, but what Hidan didn't realize was attached to the sickle was an explosive tag. Ibiki activated it and was happy to see Hidan engulfed by the explosion.

From the smoke caused by the explosion it was hard to tell if it was a kill, but his question was answered when a whizzing sound caught his attention and saw the scythe come from his side and he was lucky enough to block it before it hit. Hidan stepped out of the smoke and only had his cloak burned up and some of parts of his body was lightly burned, but it was nothing serious.

"You thought I'd die from that asshole?" Hidan smirked, "Now to get seri-" he was cut off when he heard footsteps behind him, he turned around to the sound and saw Shi rushing at him and was hit square in his chest destroying Hidan's ribcage. Hidan stumbled back and he heard yet another pair of footsteps and he turned his head to see who it was and saw a flash of blonde hair and said person shouting, "Wind Style: Shredding Wind Barrage!"

Naruto appeared behind Hidan and did a rapid fire of punches to Hidan's back and with each punch damaging his insides, after the series of punches Naruto pulled back his right fist and hit Hidan at the base of his spine making him fly forward. Shi saw Hidan fly into his direction and he quickly clotheslined Hidan with enough force to knock him out.

Before he black out Hidan cursed that he was beaten like this.

Ibiki walked over to his two students saying, "Good job."

Shi explained, "Naruto's idea. He knew this guy was gonna be distorted because of the explosion and what tactics we'd need to win." Ibiki congratulated both of them and said, "Okay then why don't I leave the interrogation to you two then while I go check up on Takako. Let's see how good both of your interrogation skills are." With a smile Ibiki jumped off to go find Takako.

Naruto and Shi watched him leave and they restrained Hidan by tying him up with Shi keeping both hands on Hidan's shoulders making sure he doesn't get away. Naruto sat in front of Hidan looking at the unconscious man before him, Ibiki taught them all a basic torture method to gathering information, but Naruto knew better. This guy was Kakuzu's partner and there was no way he'd spill his guts easily, maybe even not at all. Naruto was interested in what else this organization was planning and decided to try and find out.

Naruto told Shi he was ready and proceeded to do a number of handsigns before shouting, "Summoning Jutsu: Bloody Countess!" Naruto slammed his hand on Hidan's head and he entered Hidan's mindscape.

Shi saw Naruto's eyes close and thought, 'There is a limit to how long we can use that jutsu. Hopefully Naruto can last longer than me and Takako.'

* Hidan's Mindscape *

Hidan awakened to find himself sitting in the middle of a stone floor, the room was too darkened and he couldn't see the walls, but a light shone from above him. He tried to stand, but his body wouldn't move, "Oi this shit ain't funny! Whose ever out there right now better fucking show yourself now!" Hidan saw a face appear from the shadows. Although it was just that, a face, a pure white face with red lipstick, red blush on her cheeks, and her eyes were entirely black. The smile she had too was just creepy.

Suddenly hooks attached to chains shot out from the shadows sticking into Hidan's biceps, in-between his ribs, and two in his shoulder blades suspending him in the air. Hidan winced for a moment and looked ahead seeing the face still starring at him with that same smile. Appearing next to her was two drill like objects that were aimed at his chest.

"Tell me what I want to know and I'll remove a hook from your body."

Hidan heard this woman's voice, it sounded detached and with an echo effect to it. Hidan grinned and shouted, "This the best you can do! I'm a fucking follower of Jashin! His torture is far superior to yours little girl!" Suddenly two spear like weapons shot out from the ground beneath him piercing him under his arm pits and coming out of the top of his shoulders.

However the man laughed instead, "This is all you got! This is nothing you bitch!"

Naruto was in a kind of floating form watching from a distance questioning this man's sanity. He seemed to thrive on pain rather than break down in fear.

* Real World *

Unbeknownst to Shi who was holding Hidan in position, Kakuzu was in the tree line watching everything while thinking, 'We don't have time for these shenanigans.' He pulled three kunais from his sleeves and tossed all three of them at high speeds.

Shi heard the whizzing sound of a weapon and turned to see two kunais flying toward his direction, one hit Shi in his chest, the other cut Hidan's restraints, and the final one grazed Hidan's back.

Naruto saw the world crumble before him and he awoke, but he woke to see Hidan had also woken up and he was pissed. Hidan reached out and grabbed Naruto by his throat and grabbed a kunai off the ground and sliced Naruto diagonally across his chest. The sharp pain ripped through Naruto's body as he fell back after Hidan let go of his neck.

Hidan was breathing heavily and shouted at the two, "There was no way I'd be killed by some brats like you!" Hidan was mid swing into stabbing Naruto.

Kakuzu appeared next to Shi and stomped on Shi's head knocking him unconscious before grabbing Hidan's arm. Hidan turned around and saw Kakuzu was the one restraining him, "Why are you stopping me teme!" Kakuzu looked down at Naruto and saw him holding his chest in pain, "He's our contact Hidan."

He felt Hidan tense up and then relax, so he let him go. Kakuzu walked up to Naruto and told him, "You'll live, I know that you will. Your stronger than this." Kakuzu turned his head and told Hidan, "That man will be back soon. Let's go."

Hidan walked over and grabbed his scythe and jumped away first, Kakuzu stayed and told Naruto, "Use that jutsu to fix yourself up and remember who you serve." Naruto looked up at Kakuzu and saw him walk away not saying anything else. Naruto began to black out from the blood loss.

* One Day Later *

Naruto opened his eyes and saw a white ceiling, leaning up he saw balloons were at the foot of his bed and all read 'Get Well Soon', along with cards, candy, and some gifts. Naruto reached up to his chest and pulled off the top of his hospital gown to see a large scar that had been stitched up. At that moment the door to the room he was in opened up revealing Doctor Hari. He already guessed he was in the hospital in Konoha and seeing her only confirmed it.

"Your up already Naruto-kun. That's good, you gave us quite the scare."

Naruto rubbed his eyes asking, "Who stitched me up?"

Hari looked at him funny and answered, "You told Ibiki that you did it yourself."

Confused Naruto decided to play it cool, "Oh I did? I must've been delirious from the blood loss." Hari hummed and told him, "I'm amazed though Naruto-kun. You suffered a wound like that, on the travel back home Ibiki said that you left for a moment when you all rested and came back with the stitchings on your chest. Very impressive."

Naruto replied, "I thought I'd take up learning how to do things like that since you never know what will happen on a mission." Naruto kept up his facade. Hari nodded and walked over to him taking his temperature, "Well you seem fine, but let's wait until the Hokage comes in before I release you."

"What of my team?"

"Oh, Shi is fine. The kunai missed a vital organ, but it seems that guy you fought had an accomplice as you told us yourself." Hari explained.

Naruto told her, "Yeah when I woke up Shi was falling down and that guy attacked me. There was no way he could've escaped on his own without help. I let myself believe he was alone and dropped my guard, it was a childish mistake that I made and I should be dead now."

Hari wrote some things down in her clipboard and said, "Well you and Shi are one of the lucky ones. Ibiki explained the situation to your father and Takako was released shortly after being admitted. Shi is still unconscious, but should be waking up soon."

Naruto looked out the window and said, "That's good."

Hari soon took her leave saying that she'll inform his father that he is awake. After Naruto looked at the door he got up and closed the curtains around his bed so that he was concealed, sitting on his bed Naruto took a deep breath and said, "I know your there Zetsu..."

Naruto's left eye went from blue to yellow and the left side of Naruto's lips carried a smile while the other half had a kind of frown. His voice changed to that of Zetsu, "So your memories are really back now huh?"

"I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to let you hide in my body."

Zetsu remarked, "It was to make sure your cover wasn't blown and I must say that you've weaseled your way into everyone's hearts very quickly."

"Still… I can handle this on my own from this point on. Your assistance is no longer required."

"Oh really like the time when your sister gashed your sides or what about when Hidan sliced your chest yesterday? I needed to take the initiative and take over your body and fool everyone else." Zetsu mocked.

Naruto scoffed, "Yeah and had Hari not said anything then I would've been in trouble if I had said the wrong thing about the mission."

"Relax boy. I'm only hosting for a little while longer, soon I'll leave your body and you'll be parasite free." chuckled Zetsu, "I wonder if I should tell Kakuzu about your fragility?"

Naruto's right eye narrowed to the curtains in front of him as his voice darkened, "Watch yourself Zetsu!"

"Oh, have I hit a nerve, no wait it has a name… I believe that her name is Hinata Hyuga."

Naruto's breathing became harsh as he told him, "I have no attachment to this mission Zetsu, so don't go spewing your nonsense when you have no idea what's going on!" There was a moment of silence before Zetsu spoke up again, "Oh-ho-ho, this is interesting. Why don't I make it even more interesting? Kakuzu intends to give you one last dose of the Hero's Water via my clone. How about when it shows up I go along with it, if you truly claim that you have no ties to anyone here then we should still expect you at the hideout once you capture Haru."

He didn't like this, Naruto didn't like how Zetsu was trying to pry like this, "I'd want you out now, but I need you until I get what Kakuzu is going to send me."

"Kakuzu? You stopped calling him tou-san I see."

Zetsu heard Naruto growl and responded, "Okay Naruto-kun I'll shut up now. I'll just lie in wait until my clone shows itself, but know this that I'll be helping you every step of the way until then." Naruto covered his left eye and said, "Just sleep now and leave me alone."

Agreeing Naruto could feel that he was gaining control in the left side of his face again, but heard Zetsu say, "Your father is close by boy. Good luck." with that Zetsu receded back into Naruto's body.

Naruto took a good breath and pushed the curtain that surrounded the bed back so that he could see his father enter the room. Minato opened the door seeing Naruto awake and sitting on the edge of his bed, "Your mother was worried you know?" said Minato.

"Yeah I'd figured that. Sorry tou-san."

Minato sat next to Naruto and said, "Ibiki told me what happened. You scared us when you passed out on the way back after you fixed yourself up." Naruto looked up at his father and told him, "I guess I just got exhausted quickly, that isn't like me."

He put his hand on top of his son's head and told him, "Everything worked out fine. Wanna come home or do you want to stay another night just in case?"

Naruto told him that he wanted to go home, so Minato went to the drawer in the room and took out his clothes that he had on when he got there. He handed them over to Naruto and told him that he'll be waiting outside the door for him. Naruto got dressed and walked outside to meet his father and the two left the hospital to go back home. Minato summoned a few clones to gather Naruto's gifts that his friends brought him to take home as well.

* Hokage Mansion *

Naruto and Minato walked into the mansion and Naruto was immediately pulled into a hug by his mother who had been worried to death about him. Kushina asked him, "How are you Naruto-kun? Do you feel okay? Want something to eat? How about I make ramen?"

He told her, "Kaa-san I'm okay really I am."

"I was so worried about you. When I was informed about what happened I rushed to the hospital to see you, but you were unconscious."

"I'm awake now kaa-san and I was cleared to leave the hospital." he said unemotionally, right now he wanted to go to his room to gather his thoughts, "I'll wait until lunch time to eat. I'm going upstairs to take a bath and relax okay." He already started to walk up the stairs not waiting for a reply.

Kushina looked at her husband and asked, "Did something happen? He seems a bit colder than he normally is. His tone seems to have changed."

Minato watched Naruto walk up the stairs and disappear down the hall, "This mission must've had a bigger impact than before."

"You think it's because his teammate was hurt while he was there?" asked Kushina.

Minato shrugged his shoulders, "Don't know. We'll just have to wait till he wants to tell us, that's all we can do." Minato instructed his clone to put Naruto's gifts in the living room and he had to leave to return to the tower to finish his work. Kushina was worried about Naruto, but she feared that digging any deeper into this matter might drive him away. With nothing else she could do she went into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Land of Waves *

Kakashi was laying in bed after they had a run in with Zabuza. Haru and Sasuke fought against Zabuza as well, but Kakashi was able to keep them from being injured while Sakura protected Tazuna the man who paid for the mission. They were staying at his house with his daughter Tsunami and her son Inari, but needless to say that Haru and Inari didn't get along since the two argued the moment they got to the house.

Kakashi, Haru, Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna talked in the room that they gave Kakashi.

"I summarize that the tracker-nin that came after Zabuza was his accomplice." said Kakashi.

Sasuke agreed, "It was very odd that he took his body away after he 'died'. Don't tracker-nins dispose of the body where it dropped?"

"They always do. It's to make sure that their village's secrets remain a secret."

Haru was leaned up against the wall asking, "So do you think that he'll come back sensei?"

Kakashi groaned, "Afraid so. The one thing I know about Zabuza through his reputation is just that, he won't let this little mishap mess with his rep, so we can expect him back sometime in the near future. Most likely he'll be out for a week."

"How long will it take for the bridge to be fixed Tazuna?" asked Sakura.

Tazuna looked worried and mumbled, Kakashi told him to speak up and they heard the old man say, "Twelve days. I've been crunching the numbers before I left and I summarized that it will take a twelve days to complete it and even if me and my crew work overtime we still won't get it done within a week."

Kakashi smiled under his mask and looked over to Haru saying in a carefree tone, "Well it's a shame we don't have a personal group of helpers…. right Haru-chan?"

The blonde kunoichi smiled and told Tazuna, "Don't worry about man power! I'll take care of that with my shadow clones!" Sakura smiled and Sasuke could only smirk. Tazuna looked a little teary eyed after seeing Haru use her shadow clones against Zabuza, "Y-Your willing to go that far after I tricked you?"

Kakashi told him, "Haru-chan here is the daughter of our village's Hokage and I used to be his student a long time ago. He had a knack for helping others out to the extreme, I may have been reluctant at first to helping you, but my team made a decision to keep going and I'm going to honor it." Tazuna took of his glasses and wiped his eyes telling them thank you over and over.

Haru shouted, "Don't cry old man or else your gonna make me cry!" Kakashi told his team, "Okay team tomorrow we are gonna do some training, so be ready for that okay?"

His team agreed and walked out of the room to let Kakashi rest.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

I do hope this chapter was enough to satisfy my readers until I can finish the next chapter. Also I'd appreciate it if a few of you could give my story 'Naruto's Rise' a read for those of you who haven't heard about it, I'd be grateful. Anyway I'm gonna start working on the next chapter soon. Thanks for reading!

-Stay Gold


	19. Emotions & Uncertainty

Chapter Nineteen: Emotions & Uncertainty

Thanks for waiting on this chapter. I'd like to say that the sport I watch the most is getting a lot of attention now, but what with the UFC and WEC merging to become one organization is absolutely awesome. Now the UFC is gonna have two extra weight classes and even more phenominal fighters which is even more awesome. Anyway I'm rooting for Lyoto _**"The Dragon"**_ Machida to defeat Quinton **_"Rampage"_** Jackson and I want to see our Hawaiin star BJ **_"The Prodigy"_** Penn beat Matt Hughes (this is their third fight against each other). These fights happen tomorrow and I'm gonna watch these fights very closely.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* The Next Day: Konoha Hospital *

Shi finally awoke and Ibiki and the rest of Team Kai was alerted making their way over to the hospital to see him. Shi laid in his bed asking his team how the mission went and what happened, Ibiki filled him in and told him what happened and how next time they'll be ready if something like this happens again, but hopefully it wouldn't.

Naruto looked at his teammate and said, "Oi Shi. I'm sorry that I couldn't do more when we were attacked." Shi shook his head saying, "Don't you think I should be saying that? After all I was awake and I couldn't even sense that there was another in the shadows. Nothing to be worried about, accidents like this happen and there is nothing we can do to stop them. We can only prepare for it when it occurs next time."

She was elbowed in his arm and saw that Takako was smiling genuinely at him, "My, my Shi that's the longest series of words you've said yet." Takako laughed and Ibiki couldn't help but smirk.

"Okay team until Shi is properly healed Team Kai will be put on the bench, but that doesn't mean that we'll be taking it easy from this point on. I have a few more training regimes to try out so be prepared for what's to come. I'm heading back to headquarters now so for this whole week your free to do whatever you need." said Ibiki, their sensei turned around and left the hospital room. Naruto told Shi that he'll visit when he can and took his leave as well.

Takako however stayed behind to talk to her teammate, "Man I can't believe that I was beaten that easily by a psycho like that." Shi simply responded, "That psycho was no ordinary ninja. I have a feeling that we'll be seeing him soon though."

"You really think so Shi?"

He looked at her and said, "I don't want to say we won't when it's not true. I need to get stronger to stop him next time."

The kunoichi smiled saying, "Well then I just need to get stronger as well, since the three of us couldn't beat him that time I'll just have to get strong enough to the point where I can beat him on my own without your guys' help." Shi sensed the cockiness in her voice, but also a tone of uncertainty.

"Takako, who is it you want your revenge against?"

She froze for a moment, "Just someone who if we got rid of then the world would be a better place." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a gold locket that had letters inscribed on it. Shi couldn't see from the angel he was sitting at, but didn't bother to peek at it and he heard Takako say "My dad gave this to me when I was one I guess, I don't remember my parents though I was told when I was found I was a little over one year of age and this was wrapped around my neck. My parent's dead bodies were covered in blood and they were laying on top of me protecting me from the man who tired to kill me as well. I don't know how he came to possess this necklace, but he gave it to me."

Shi said to her, "You say that earlier was the longest I have ever said anything which is true since I was little, but also this is the first time I'm assuming you've ever shared this information with anyone?"

She sighed and put the locket back in her pocket, "It is… Unlike Naruto you seem to be more aware of other's emotions and know how to handle them. To be honest I don't know why I'm spilling my guts to you, but it feels good to get that off of my chest." There was a brief silence between the two before she asked, "So what about you? Got anything you wanna talk about?"

The teen looked away from her and responded, "Not yet…" Takako shook her head saying, "Course not. Well I'm gonna get lost now and do some side training until we're called. See ya pal." she waved goodbye and left the room leaving Shi alone to think.

* Konoha *

Naruto walked around the village with a lot on his mind. The pressure of this double life was getting to him and he wasn't sure he'd be able to succeed in his mission without some kind of con appearing, he trusted that Kakuzu had a plan in case something did go wrong, but the fact that he was dealing with Konoha didn't exactly settle well. He needed a plan and to come up with one quick once Haru returned from her mission and it needed to be well thought out otherwise there will be consequences.

He walked around the village with no destination in mind just letting his feet take him wherever, but he was brought out of his thoughts when he felt someone place a hand on his head. He tensed for a moment then looked up to the one who was with him. He saw his brother Arashi standing next to him with a smile on his face.

"Hey Naruto-kun, your looking better." said Arashi.

He turned to look at his older brother, "Arigatou nii-san. I feel a lot better too." Arashi asked him, "Man you've had a lot of close calls since coming to Konoha huh?"

"Yeah, I guess my luck is dulling a bit."

"Hey did you hear what happened with Haru?" asked Arashi who was a little more serious.

Naruto shook his head saying no, "Well it seems that their mission time has been extended to a few more days after the intended time. They ran into some difficulties." explained the older blonde, "They said that the bridge was in a bad condition upon their return."

"Oh, so Team 7 won't be coming home anytime soon I see." said Naruto. Arashi only nodded, "Yeah I know, but with Kakashi there they should be able to handle the mission themselves. They said they'll send updates on the mission as the days drag on."

Naruto tilted his head thinking about how this works out, "Well Haru will no doubt help with the construction of the bridge so that should carry along better."

"My thoughts exactly, so what will you be-"

"Naruto-kun!"

Both Naruto and Arashi looked down the street and saw Hinata walking over to them, Naruto waved her over.

Arashi smiled and waved to Hinata, "Good morning Hinata-cha, how are you this day?" Hinata stood in front of both blondes greeting both of them, "Good morning Naruto-kun, Arashi-kun. I just got back from a one-on-one training session with Kurenai-sensei."

"That's good, I heard your training hard now a days Hinata-chan." Arashi said to the blushing Hyuuga. Naruto kept his eyes fixated on Hinata asking her, "Hinata-chan are you still up for our date?"

Hinata looked at Naruto and simply nodded.

Deep inside Naruto he could hear Zetsu asking, "You still intend on doing this Naruto-kun?"

Naruto argued, "If I don't' then it will look suspicious, now quiet down."

Arashi patted Naruto on his back teasing his little brother, "So I see that spring has hit you two. Well where are you taking Hinata-chan for your date Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked at Hinata and asked, "How does the Blue Moon Restaurant sound and what time would be good for you Hinata-chan?" Hinata thought about what times were good for her and responded quickly, "Well I know it will sound like short notice, but I don't think we have anything planned for tomorrow night, so how does tomorrow night sound for you Naruto-kun?"

"Sounds great. I'll pick you up tomorrow night at seven." Naruto said with no change in his facial feature. Hinata happily told him that was great and that she'll be waiting. She looked at the time and said, "W-Well I should be going since I promised tou-san that I'd be home after training to do some improvements in my Jyuuken style, so I'll see you tomorrow Naruto-kun."

Naruto cracked a smile and said, "See you tomorrow." with that Hinata walked off happier than she's been in a long time. Arashi saw the smile that was on his little brother's lips and thought, 'Although not a huge smile it's a smile none the less.'

"Well looks like you have your first date tomorrow, but I'm sure later kaa-san will find out and will want to get you looking proper." said Arashi causing Naruto to question what he said.

Arashi told him to ignore it and to follow him back to the mansion to get a proper outfit for him to wear, but Naruto told him that he'd like to do all of this on his own. Arashi respecting his brother's wishes watched as he turned around and walked off. Arashi waved goodbye to him and suddenly looked behind him to see his father standing right behind him.

"Any change in his personality?" asked Minato.

Arashi sighed and replied, "All except for a tiny smile, other than that the rest of his personality seems the same. Do you really think something is awkward with him?"

Minato looked at him telling him, "I don't know, but the whole situation with the border, the attack, Naruto's healing abilities, and what Takako told me is a little unsettling."

"You mean his eyes?"

The young kage nodded, "Yeah, she said it was the briefest of moments, but she said that she clearly saw his eyes flash yellow and that he seemed strange up until he passed out."

"I hope it was just her imagination and not something that we need to be wary of." Arashi said while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"I hope so to son… I hope so too."

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Akatsuki Hideout *

Kakuzu and Hidan were standing inside a dimly lit room looking at a transparent figure with spiky hair and visible eyes, and a kind of spectral colors going around the see through body. Kakuzu said, "We made contact. Now what Leader?"

The voice of the figure was distorted, "I want you two to handle the tracking squads if they are even dispatched. I don't think Naruto would trust the other Akatsuki members just yet."

"So you want us to hall ass all the way back to Konoha and we don't even have an exact date on when the kid will be starting his mission?" said an irritated Hidan.

"Exactly." said the figure, "Also if I'm right then it would seem that Zetsu's clone is already making a move to give Naruto his final dose of Hero's Water, so we should have more info when that time comes."

Kakuzu responded, "Basically you want us to wait within Konoha's vicinity? That we can do."

"Good, now head out and make sure that this mission is successful." with that the figure vanished.

Hidan then shouted, "Son of a bitch! Now we gotta go back! This is bull shit!"

Kakuzu grunted and told him, "Just shut up and let's get this over with." Hidan grunted back at him and followed suit to get this over with.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Hyuuga Compound: Next Day *

Hinata was currently in her room sitting on her bed watching her friend Ino cycle through her walk in closet helping her look for something to wear for her date tonight with Naruto. Hinata had hoped that Haru and Sakura would be back in time to help her, but things happened and Naruto asked her to go out tonight. Hinata has never been on a date, hell none of the Hyuuga family members have never actually been on dates since arranged marriages to other clansman was a regular so there was no need to date.

Ino admitted that she's never dated either, but from observing some of her own family members she was able to tell Hinata the basic of the whole dating. Ino was confused as too where to start in Hinata's closet since she had so many damn clothes and was pretty sure that Hinata wasn't even aware of what outfits lay in there.

"Hinata-chan do you want to look innocent or would you want to go traditional?" asked Ino.

Hinata thought about it asking, "What's innocent?"

Ino found a nice dress saying, "Well you have a nice white one piece dress right here and some nice footwear to go with it."

She thought about it and asked next, "Well what's traditional then?"

The blonde girl turned around and found a nice outfit, "Well traditional is just as it sounds, you have a nice light lavender colored kimono right here. Either way Hinata-chan you'll look absolutely breathtaking." Ino thought on it more and since it was the summer time there was no real need for any kind of jacket or anything of that nature. So she took both outfits and walked out of the closet and held them both out to Hinata asking, "Well it's up to you Hinata-chan."

The Hyuuga kept shifting her eyes to the one piece dress in Ino's left hand and the the kimono in the other. Hinata was unsure of which one to pick since she wanted to look nice on her first date since she wanted Naruto to really take notice of her. Hinata lifted her hand and pointed saying, "I'll wear that one."

* Hokage Mansion *

Naruto was sitting in his own room on the bed listening to the advice he was given by Arashi. Naruto watched as Arashi pulled out a nice pair or black pants, a nice black button up collard shirt, and his black ninja sandals. "Okay Naruto what's your plan for tonight?" asked Arashi.

He thought about it and replied, "Well I wanted to take Hinata to the restaurant as you heard, then I wanted to ask her if she wanted to just enjoy one another's company by taking a walk around the village, then possibly after that I wanted to get her a gift."

Arashi told his little brother, "Well it's usually better to get the gift beforehand, but with Hinata-chan I'm sure she wouldn't mind either way. Do you have any idea what you want to get her?"

He watched Naruto slump his shoulders. Arashi brought his hand to rub his chin thinking, "Well what do you know about Hinata-chan?"

Naruto immediately said, "She's kind hearted, strong willed, very pretty, and why do you have that look on your face?" asked Naruto upon realizing that Arashi was smiling at him, but this one was different from all the others. Sure to some it might look the same, but Naruto knew Arashi long enough to know the differences in his facial features.

'I wasn't expecting Naruto to respond that quickly, I half expected him to just give blatant observations.' Arashi then waved his hand in front of his face saying, "Nothing, nothing. Well then I say you should get the gift beforehand then, so you'll have a better shot of getting the right gift instead of doing it last minute."

Deciding that was the best course of action Naruto stood up and decided to do as his brother advised. Arashi walked with Naruto to the front door and told him of a shop he should try to check out for a gift. Arashi watched Naruto run off the compound premises to get a gift for Hinata.

* Konoha Shopping District *

Naruto walked around the village asking a few of it's inhabitants about the shop his brother recommended he get his gift from. Some of the villagers were kind enough to give him directions and soon enough Naruto found the shop. He looked in the display window and saw a lot of different kinds of jewelry and other kinds of gifts and immediately assumed that this was where his brother came to get Hana a gift whenever she got mad at him or when he was gone for too long.

The owner saw Naruto from inside the store and walked out to greet him, "Hello there Namikaze-sama." the elderly woman greeted happily. Many owners in the village knew what the Namikaze family look like based off of their hair and to many if you didn't know he Namikaze family then you were looked at like you were an alien.

Naruto looked from the window to the woman and politely bowed, "Hello ma'am."

"Is there something you see that you like in the window?" asked the woman.

Naruto glanced at the window again and said, "Well I'm not sure yet. I was gonna go in and have a better look around."

The elderly woman asked him, "Is this a gift for someone special?"

His eyes widened a bit as he thought, 'Someone… special?' it never really occurred to him why he was really doing all of this in the first place, why he was going so far for this girl. He was asked out by many girls when he was at the academy, was given confession letters, and many girls wanted to always want to share their lunches with him and yet he would turn them all down. The more he thought about it the more he wondered what made Hinata special to him in the first place. Realizing that he hadn't said anything he quickly said, "H-Hai it is, I'm going on my first date tonight and I wanted to get her a gift."

"A first date I see." said the elderly woman, she thought about something special and said, "Oh I have just what you'll like." she ushered him into the shop and he quietly followed her inside.

* Ten Minutes Later *

Naruto left the shop holding a small box, he had told her about Hinata and how he set this all up for her, so she gave him a gift that he reluctantly didn't think it right to accept. He looked at the elderly woman asking her with uncertainty in his voice, "You sure that I can have this for free?"

"Yes dear I am very sure. This is your first date and this girl could be that special someone you might be destined to live with for the rest of your life." said the happy old woman.

He put the box in his hand and turned to her fully asking, "I don't really understand that meaning. I hear people say that a lot, but I don't have a grasp on what it really means."

The elderly woman frowned and answered back messing with the ring on her left hand, "Naruto-sama it's called love."

"Love?" Naruto repeated questionably. He knew what love was from what he's read in books, but he didn't understand what affect this word has on someone.

"Yes love. It makes humans and ninjas alike do sometimes the most idiotic, selfish, dangerous, and stubborn choices, but in the end it's because you love that person so much which is why you do it in the first place. You don't really know why, you can't truly explain it from words, but all you know is that you'd do it just for them." She walked forward and pointed at Naruto's chest saying, "You'll know if she's special when you feel it in here."

After she removed her hand Naruto touched his chest and asked, "Has your 'love' done something for you?" He wanted to tread carefully not knowing if this conversation would bring up unnecessary memories for her.

She smiled and said, "Yes, he was a fool, but he was my fool. He opened this shop against my wishes, but yet this shop was the best thing to happen to us. When he died I was compelled to keep my husband's memory alive, it's good to have mementos, but the memories of them are the most precious."

Naruto touched the box inside his pocket. The elderly woman told him, "That gift is not well recognized by others however as a woman I'd say that she'll love that gift."

She looked at the time from one of the clocks in her shop from the doorway saying, "Oh dear you should get going. Good luck Naruto-sama."

Naruto thanked her and jumped off. As he hopped from roof to roof he thought about that word, 'Love… It makes people do irrational things? Why would you do something like that? Why would…' He stopped suddenly still thinking about everything.

'Oh what's wrong? Confused about your current feelings?'

Naruto's eyes widened as he heard Zetsu's voice, 'Poor little Naruto-kun confused? Hehehe.'

He gritted his teeth and said, 'Shut up Zetsu! When are you gonna be gone?'

Zetsu grinned from inside Naruto, 'I leave very soon, I can sense my clone is waiting for us to make contact.'

'Where?' Demanded Naruto.

'Aw I thought I could accompany you on your first date.'

'Zetsu!'

'Okay, okay, he's waiting on the west side of the village, better hurry.'

Naruto started running toward where Zetsu's clone was so he could get this parasite out of him once and for all. He followed Zetsu's instructions and made it close to the west wall where a few buildings resided, he also made sure that he wasn't followed nor that anyone was close by thanks to Zetsu's abilities. Naruto said lowly, "Come on out."

After he spoke a lump formed on the ground and began to take the shape of a half bodied man, a moment later and the details became visible as you could make out Zetsu.

Naruto's left eye closed and once opened it turned yellow and the left side of his face had a smile, "It's time."

"Good." said Naruto.

Zetsu used Naruto's left arm to grab hold of the clone zetsu and absorbed it into Naruto's body. Out of all the times this has been done this was Naruto's first time actually seeing the process of the Hero's Water entering his body through Zetsu. Naruto felt a power build up inside of him be it at a slow pace, but it was building up inside of him. The sensation of this power coursing through made him feel invincible.

Naruto fell on his knees and felt something pushing out of his chest, he quickly took off his shirt and saw Zetsu start to separate from him. Naruto winced as he separated from Zetsu, the process was painful but he had to fight through he pain. After Zetsu separated from Naruto entirely he fused with the ground and started to sink in the the earth leaving only his head.

The blonde looked up and saw Zetsu smiling back at him making him sneer at the plant man, "Now get lost."

Zetsu chuckled and told him, "Okay I'll go, see you at the base Naruto-kun." Zetsu began sinking more into the ground, but told Naruto before he disappeared, "Remember Naruto-kun where your loyalties lie. Hehehehe."

Naruto punched the spot where Zetsu's head just was cursing out. He stood back up catching his breath and putting his shirt back on, 'I know where my loyalties lie you bastard.' after that he jumped off to go back home.

After Naruto left Zetsu appeared on the wall of a building fully complete. The black half said, "Did you do it?"

The white half responded with a eery smile, "Of course. What do I look like some kind of idiot to you?"

"As long as you did what I told you, then it's fine."

Zetsu began merging back into the building and left to go tell Pain how his part was finally completed.

* Hokage Mansion *

Naruto walked back into the mansion and took off his sandals. He looked up and saw his mother standing in the doorway smiling brightly at him. Naruto asked her, "What?"

"Nothing at all son." she responded still happy.

Not buying it at all, but then realization hit him, "Who told you I was going on a date?"

His mother simply tilted her head to the side and said innocently, "You just did."

Not dropping his mask he looked at her like he didn't understand, which he really didn't. Kushina explained, "I knew something was strange with my two boys, but I didn't know what it was. I just thought that if I looked like I knew what was going on that you'd slip up and say something and sure enough it worked."

She walked up to Naruto and tapped him on the tip of his nose saying, "Just be a complete gentleman out there son. Hinata-chan is an angle and she should be treated as such. Okay?"

Naruto only nodded at her understanding what she meant. Kushina turned to leave, but Naruto wanted to ask her something, "Kaa-san?"

Kushina stopped and turned to look at her youngest boy, "Yes?"

He took a deep breath and asked, "What made you fall for dad?" The question took Kushina by surprise since this was out of the ordinary for him to ask. She walked over to him and kneeled in front of him asking, "What brought this on?"

"I was just curious is all."

She put both her hands on his shoulders and said, "To be honest at first I thought your father was a complete wimp and that he was kind of girly, so at first I thought nothing of him, but when I was kidnapped by Kumo nins I had let out strands of my hair as a trail. Only one man picked up on the trail, your father came to my rescue and said that he admired my hair color and that it was because of it that he found me. I never liked my hair color, but he liked and that's when I started to like my hair."

She stopped for a moment to let him absorb all of that, "It was then that I fell in love with him and how we were able to have you three and have this life together as a family."

'That word again.' thought Naruto.

She stood up and said, "I do hope Hinata is the one for you Naruto-kun. She's a very nice, sweet, caring, and very beautiful. I can only imagine that she'll only get more beautiful when she gets older, but it's your decision." She leaned forward and kissed Naruto on his forehead saying, "For luck."

Naruto stood in silence watching his mother walk off heading upstairs. After she left he thought to himself, 'Love… Mom doesn't like dad at first, she's kidnapped and leaves a few strands of hairs for someone to find her, dad finds her and says he likes her hair, and mom falls in love with him at that moment? It's all to strange… Is there more to it all?'

He wanted to figure this all out, but he doesn't know where to start.

* 6:30 P.M. *

Naruto finished getting dressed and made sure that he had everything he would need. After checking to make sure that he had everything he sighed and walked out of his room and downstairs and he saw his mother and father waiting at the bottom smiling at him. He stopped a few steps before he reached the bottom so that he was eye level with his parents.

Kushina spoke first, "Oh it's my baby's first date."

"Honey don't embarrass him." Minato scolded playfully.

Naruto was still plain faced not even fazed by what his mother said. Kushina wiped away a small tear that built up in the corner of her eye saying, "I can't help it though, he's just so handsome."

That tear wasn't missed by Naruto, 'Why is she crying? Is this all so important?' Naruto said, "Kaa-san don't cry."

Kushina walked up the steps and hugged Naruto saying, "You look just like your father did on our first date." She kept hugging him and Naruto was able to angle his head so his father could see him. Minato saw Naruto shift his eyes from him to Kushina and immediately caught on. He walked up to Kushina touching her shoulders, "Come on honey he's gotta go. After all it's better that he's early to meet Hinata rather than be late."

She slowly released Naruto from her hug and said, "Sorry, now Naruto-kun don't keep Hinata-chan out too late and make sure you take her home."

He could only nod at what she asked. Minato added, "Have fun son."

Again he nodded and walked to the door and opened it taking his leave. Kushina leaned over to Minato asking, "Where's Arashi at?"

"He decided that tonight would be a great time to take Hana out on a date as well, but he's taking her to a restaurant farther from where Naruto and Hinata are going however." said Minato.

Kushina looked up at her husband and said, "You know since all the kids are out and we are the only ones here at the moment."

Minato could here the sensual tone in her voice and he took her hand and said, "Shall we?" With nothing else to say between the two Minato led his wife upstairs and to their room.

* Hyuuga Compound *

Hinata was looking at herself in the mirror, she decided to go with the kimono. Hinata didn't want a lot of make up, so Ino put a very light amount on her. Ino asked her, "Well how do you like it?"

After inspecting herself in the mirror Hinata liked how she looked, "I like it, thank you Ino-chan. I just hope Naruto-kun will like how I look."

"Hey I'm sure he'll absolutely love the way you look, don't second guess how you look Hinata-chan your very pretty." Ino told her. Hinata looked at her outfit in the mirror again she took a few good breaths and soon heard a knock at her door. Hinata walked over to the door and opened it seeing one of her family members.

"Hinata-sama, Naruto-sama is here to pick you up. He's waiting in the foyer."

Hinata thanked him and said that she'll go see him now. Hinata closed her door and started to panic a little, "Ino I'm so nervous!"

The blonde got up and tried to calm her down, "Hinata-chan I know your nervous, but you have to take a few good deep breaths." Hinata stopped and looked at Ino and took a few good breaths to try and calm her down. She was praying all night that she wouldn't do anything that would embarrass Naruto tonight and that she would not stutter like a complete idiot. Ino watched as Hinata started to clam down, "Okay now just remember to be yourself and try to talk to him more and to open up more as well. Kami knows that he needs to."

"What do you mean?" asked Hinata.

Ino explained, "Well he's still shows almost no emotions despite how long we've known him. Haru says that he doesn't really talk at home unless it's either necessary or unavoidable, so try to get him to open up and really talk more. The only time he really talks to us is when he says 'Hi' and that's about it normally."

Hinata thought about what Ino said and realized that Naruto rarely talks to any of their friends only if he's being asked questions does he talk to them, but he does talk to her and Haru when he gets the chances. Maybe she could get him to open up and maybe really talk to others instead of just being the shadow in the group. She smiled and told Ino, "I'll try my best."

"That a girl! Now go get him!" Ino said enthusiastically. Hinata grabbed her small purse and walked out of her room with Ino following behind her.

Hinata made it to the foyer and saw her father already there talking with Naruto, Ino saw both men too and seen that neither had any facial expression nor did they look like they enjoy the other's company at all. Hiashi noticed Hinata and Ino and called his daughter over.

Within a second Hinata ran over to Naruto and her father and greeted Naruto first, "H-Hello N-Naruto-kun." she said cursing that she was stuttering, "Y-You look h-h-handsome."

Naruto looked Hinata up and down thinking that what his mother said was true. Naruto told Hinata, "Arigatou Hinata-chan. You look beautiful in that kimono." Naruto watched as red tints showed in her cheeks as her gaze left his and she nervously started to stroke her left arm. Hiashi cleared his throat catching everyones' attention.

"Naruto-san, I want you to have my daughter home at 11:00 o'clock sharp and I mean it. Not 11:01, not 11:02, but at 11:00 o'clock." he said with authority.

Naruto wasn't fazed by the tone in the old Hyuuga's voice and instead spoke clearly and with a proud tone in his voice, "You have my word that I will have Hinata-chan home at 11:00 o'clock." Hiashi wasn't really surprised when Naruto didn't respond with a weak tone and he was able to trust the boy to take care of his daughter.

'He speaks to me in the same tone Neji does.' he thought, "Good, now you should both head out now." After he told them both that he left.

Naruto bowed to him as he left and turned to Hinata, "Ready to go?" Hinata meekly nodded and she nearly crumbled when Naruto took her hand and led her out of the foyer and out of the house. Ino decided to leave after them so she wouldn't get in the way, once she left the Hyuuga compound she looked down the street and saw Naruto and Hinata heading into the opposite direction.

"Good luck Hinata." the blonde kunoichi said lowly and took her leave toward her house.

* Hokage Monument *

They had sometime until their reservations at the restaurant so they decided to walk around the village. Hinata told Naruto they should go to the Hokage Monument to get a good look at the setting sun to which Naruto agreed. Hinata led Naruto to the top of the monument where they stood atop the Niidaime Hokage's head. Hinata sat down and looked over to Naruto patting the empty space next to her for him to sit down. Naruto quietly sat down next to her and looked out at the horizon seeing the sun set leaving a spectacle of colors in the sky.

"This is my favorite spot."

Naruto looked over to Hinata, she was smiling looking out into the distance as she spoke, "I don't know why, but when I come to sit in this spot I feel all the worries of the world disappear. It's ironic also that the Niidaime Hokage became my favorite Hokage and a lot of inspiration to me as well." She looked over to Naruto asking, "What about you Naruto-kun."

He kept his eyes locked onto Hinata's pearl colored eyes seeing the tint of orange reflect off of them from the setting sun's rays. He broke his eyesight with her and responded, "I don't have a favorite Hokage. Each one garnered respect in their own way… The Shodaime utilized a rare wood-style ninjutsu and was well versed in many weapons, the Niidaime was the perfect water jutsu user and his taijutsu was top notch, the Sandaime Hokage mastered all the jutsu of Konoha and was Konoha's strongest Hokage, and finally there's dad."

Naruto paused and looked to his left into the direction of his father's face that was carved into the monument, "Dad was and still is feared by many ninjas, he has created two high leveled jutsu on his own, the youngest Hokage and most popular in the village's eyes, and by far the fastest ninja ever." As he spoke Hinata saw that Naruto's eyes drifted from his left to looking at a spot a few inches in front of him. Naruto gripped his hand and said, "I need to get even stronger than before. There are many ninjas out there that are far stronger than me and in order to fight on equal ground with them I need to get even stronger."

Hinata moved her hands to grasp Naruto's fisted hand trying to calm him. He felt her hands take hold of his and he felt relaxed immediately, just by a simple touch she had released all the tension in his body. He looked over at her and saw her smiling at him, "Don't worry Naruto-kun you'll definitely get stronger. I'll help you get stronger Naruto-kun, after all you inspire me also to get stronger."

"How?"

She let go of his hand telling him, "It's your drive to get stronger that inspires me and you also inspire Haru to get stronger as well. Seeing you both do your best makes me do my best as well. I want to get stronger to impress you also Naruto-kun."

Naruto felt his cheeks heat up and he looked away from her saying, "Your both getting stronger on your own."

Hinata couldn't exactly explain where this newfound bravery was coming from but thanks to it she was able to talk to him without making an idiot of herself. Naruto hadn't felt anything like this before and it actually scared him since he didn't know how to handle it, wanting to change the subject he stood up and said, "We should get going Hinata-chan so that we can get a good seat." He looked down at her and offered her his hand.

He watched her smile up at him and gratefully took his hand letting him lead her.

* Blue Moon Restaurant *

As stated before the Blue Moon Restaurant was for ninjas exclusively for those who have returned from missions or on a day off come here to relax with out worry. Naruto and Hinata didn't mind that they were the only ones dressed up since the ninjas in there didn't judge nor really care since they were doing their own things. Naruto and Hinata were seated at their table and ordered their food.

Hinata and Naruto sat in a kind of awkward silence and Naruto began to remember reading in a book about dates and how you should always make conversation with your date. He tried to think of something to ask her and it finally came to him, "Umm Hinata-chan are you aware that your imouto is following us?"

This took her a little bit by surprise since she wasn't aware of that. She was having a wonderful time just being in his presence that she wasn't even aware that they were being followed. Hinata closed her eyes and whispered, "Byakugan."

Naruto saw the veins form around her eyes and assumed that she was searching for her little sister. Hinata did a quick scan of the area around their building and saw Hanabi sitting at an angle so she was able to see them. Hinata sighed and told Naruto, "Gomen Naruto-kun she's just a little over protective." afterward she deactivated her byakugan.

"No need to apologize. Wouldn't your tou-san get upset that she'll be out late without his permission?" Naruto asked.

Hinata nodded and told him, "Hanabi will be okay. I'm sure she'll have some kind of excuse to tell him."

They both noticed the waiter walk over with their food. Naruto ordered some Soba noodles and Hinata had some Red Bean Soup. They both thanked the waiter and slowly started to eat.

During the meal Naruto began asking her about how her training was going and what her life was like before he came to Konoha. She happily told him about her mother who died sometime after Hanabi was born, but wouldn't tell him how though, so he didn't press the topic. In exchange he told Hinata about his life with Kakuzu, Hinata knew all about Naruto being kidnapped and raised by Kakuzu from Haru.

He told her how he used to hunt for his food and how they would go from village to village taking on bounty hunting jobs. Hinata asked him had he killed anyone before he came to Konoha to which Naruto told her he did so that he would be able to do it over and over again without worry. That made Hinata a little sad knowing that Naruto had to kill and do other things of that nature at such a young age. It made her realize that while her and all her friends were playing and having fun, Naruto was out there doing serious training and killing others way before they were.

"I didn't mind any of the treatment I was given, if it made me stronger than I didn't mind it at all." said Naruto.

Hinata asked him, "Is there another reason why you want to get stronger?"

Thinking of whether he should tell her what his goal was, but he felt he could trust her with it, he doesn't come out and bluntly say what he wants and figures that others will just find out from hearing his story. "I want to fight Kakuzu on equal ground with him, but he told me that if I fight him then I'd have to kill him as well."

Naruto looked at her and saw that she was listening intently, "He told me that if we fight that he will fight to kill me and if I'm half prepared then I will die quickly. To stop him from doing this I need to get much more stronger and to be prepared to kill him."

"Why would he want that Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked sincerely.

Naruto took another few noodles and ate them before he answered her, "I don't know, but when I was little I told him that I wanted to fight him and it was then that he told me that. I made it my goal and I promised that I was going to defeat him to show that I can get stronger and I intend to keep my promise I made to him."

Hinata liked that about him as well like Haru he keeps his promises and won't let anything stop him.

"Arigatou Hinata-chan."

Hinata looked confused and asked, "What for?"

Naruto looked at her and smiled, "For listening to my story since others will listen just to get information, but you listen because you care and I thank you for that Hinata-chan."

A deep red blush appeared on her cheeks as she looked down at her soup sheepishly saying, "A-Anytime Naruto-kun."

The rest of the meal they ate and occasionally talked about their friends, their family, and about their senseis. Naruto was actually enjoying himself this night, unbeknownst to Hinata he reached down to his pocket and touched the box in his pocket wondering when he should give it to her.

* Konoha *

Naruto and Hinata walked around the village seeing the shops light up and people were all out having fun. Hinata was holding onto Naruto's hand as he led her to the park, though late at night there were a lot kids running around playing ninja. Hinata laughed when two of the kids ran smack into each other and watched as the two kids friends started to laugh as well. Afterward they went to a pond that was in the park, finding it they saw a pagoda sitting in the center of the pond with a bridge leading to it. Hinata ran across the pond and looked at the full moon and how brightly it shone. Naruto followed suit and stood next to her looking at the moon.

Hinata told him, "No one really sits to look at nature anymore and the beauty that comes from it. Like earlier when we watched the sunset."

"You love the scenery don't you Hinata-chan." More of a statement than a question.

She happily nodded, "Hai I do. Kaa-san always told me that you should always make time to absorb all the wonders of the world before it's too late." Looking from Naruto she looked back at the moon.

Naruto took in what she said and wanted to experience what ever she was experiencing right now. Looking at the giant ball in the sky he took in every little detail of the moon, the shine of it, and the sheer mass of it. He had to admit that it was a breathtaking sight, silently he reached into his pocket and pulled out the little box and he said, "Hinata-chan."

She stopped her gaze at the moon and looked at Naruto who pulled out a small box. Naruto opened the box and took out a necklace, it was a teardrop sea blue colored stone with a silver band going around it, "This is for you Hinata-chan."

The necklace was beautiful and Naruto walked forward unhooking the chain and putting it around Hinata's neck. She held the stone in the palm of her hand looking at it and she looked up at Naruto who was looking at her with uncertainty, she walked forward and hugged him saying, "It's beautiful Naruto-kun, thank you." Naruto felt the pace of his heart increase from her hugging him. On reaction Naruto's arms raised up and he wrapped his arms around her hugging her back.

They stood in each other's arms for a moment and then broke apart. Naruto looked down on her and leaned forward kissing her on her lips, Hinata was surprised but didn't pull away from him and instead kissed him back. Hinata put her hands to rest on his chest and kept her eyes closed hoping that this wasn't her imagination playing tricks on her. Their lips remained locked for a moment longer before they broke apart. Naruto's hands were holding onto her arms keeping her a good distance so he could look at her face.

Naruto looked worried and said, "Gomen."

"Don't be Naruto-kun, I enjoyed it." Hinata said reassuring him with a quick peck on his lips. Realizing how late it was and how long they had been out Naruto decided it was time to walk Hinata home.

Naruto kept holding onto Hinata's hand as he walked beside her. Before they got within range of her compound Hinata stopped walking making Naruto stop as well wondering what was wrong.

"N-Naruto-kun."

He stood directly in front of her asking her what was wrong.

"N-Naruto-kun… What are we now?" she asked with a nervous tone in her voice. He took both her hands in his and said confidently, "We are what ever you want us to be."

Hinata looked down and told him, "I've never had a boyfriend before Naruto-kun. I don't know what to do."

He reached his hand up and lifted her chin so she could look at him, "I've never had a girlfriend before Hinata-chan, so we both won't know what to do, but we can learn can't we?"

Hinata smiled and nodded. Naruto walked her till they got to the main gate where there were two Hyuuga guards outside, before they were noticed Hinata turned and they two gave each other a quick kiss on the lips, afterward Hinata said goodnight to him and walked into her compound.

Naruto started walking away from the compound and stopped once he was a good distance away he called out, "I don't appreciate being spied on."

Hanabi jumped down from a building close to Naruto looking up at him with a stern stare, "I just want to make sure my sister is okay. Got a problem with that?"

"Not at all. Just don't do it again." said Naruto. The two locked eyes and Hanabi brushed past him not giving him another glance. After she left Naruto picked up the pace and headed home.

* Hinata's Room *

Hinata took a quick shower and put on a spaghetti strap shirt and some shorts to sleep in. Even in the Hyuuga compound it was very warm. Hinata laid on top of her bed and started to rub the teardrop stone between her index and thumb admiring the gift that she got from her now boyfriend Naruto. That thought alone filled her with such happiness that she hasn't had since before her mother died. She rolled on her side and started to hum a tone as she slowly fell asleep.

* Naruto's Room *

At that same time Naruto had taken a shower as well, he told his parents what happened on the date and how him and Hinata were now a couple. Naruto's hearing was slowly coming back since his mother made a noise that was so high pitched that it broke a few glasses. Minato told Naruto that he was proud of him and to treat Hinata well. After he talked with them he took his shower he put on a plain black shirt and some black basketball shorts and laid on his bed looking at the ceiling.

Many thoughts were going through his mind and he didn't know what to do anymore. He slowly raised his hand up as if he was trying to touch the ceiling thinking to himself, '… What the hell am I doing?' He closed his fist, 'I shouldn't be doing this, I have a mission, I have a goal I need to complete, I can't do this…'

Then he remembered what Kakuzu and Zetsu told him before they both left again. Naruto sat up and looked at his door saying to himself, "I know where my loyalties lie… When Haru gets back it will all go into motion… I know what I must do now…"

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Alright I'll reaveal the results of your guy's votes very soon I assure you and Naruto's path will be revealed. Again I'd like to thank you all again for your patience and I'm gonna get the next chapter up ASAP! Thanks for reading and I hope you liked this chapter.


	20. Pride

Chapter Twenty: Pride

Next chapter is up and this is where it really picks up, there is a lot of different locations taking place just to let you know ahead of time. I'm gonna stop right here so you can read, hope you enjoy!

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Some Days Later: Konoha *

Since Naruto and Hinata's date things went smoothly for the couple. Their friends congratulated Hinata and Naruto on becoming an item and many villagers thought that they were very cute together while others thought that they were from two separate worlds. Naruto was stoic, calm, and unemotional while Hinata was kind, caring, and full of life. Naruto and his team got back together after a week of being on the reserve list. Ibiki taught them some new jutsu and improved their stamina thanks to some advice he got from Konoha's Green Beast Might Guy and even some hints on a few tricks from Anko Mitarashi. His team was moving even more fluid like than before and imagined that their pride was hurt over being bested by a single ninja. It seemed that that was the trigger to get them even more motivated.

Naruto was able to finally master the Rasengan two days before the team got back together. Shi's strength increased thanks to the stamina training as he was able to even out his power. Takako's swordsmanship improved as well giving her a wider range of abilities compliments of Anko. The three ninjas stated that they were ready to once again take on missions, but Ibiki told the three that by order of the Hokage they were refrained from missions for awhile. This greatly irritated Takako most of all since she's been dying to get back out there and do some damage. The three continued their training regimes like before.

Naruto was using both blades the Black Mambas fighting against a number of his clones that he summoned. Shi was doing sprints trying to get his speed up even greater. Takako was trying out a jutsu that Ibiki taught her and she was starting to get the hang of it now. Impressed even more with their growth Ibiki watched his students from afar as they trained. "Okay team let's call it a day. You can train on your own time now, I have to cut our training time short today since I gotta go on a mission of my own."

Team Kai leapt in front of him each taking shallow breaths. Takako relaxed and asked, "So you can go on missions, but not us?"

"Look I'll be back before you three know it, so keep up the training while I'm gone." Ibiki told them, "Now I'll be going now. See ya." He brought his hands together and disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving the three ninjas standing there.

Takako looked at both men on her team asking, "So you guys wanna go get some lunch?" Surprisingly both of them agreed and followed after her. They weren't exactly sure where they were going, but they didn't care at the moment.

* Training Ground 17 *

Team 8 was using the meadows training ground all four going against Kurenai with all they got. However the jounin used her skills as a genjutsu user to defeat them and left her team sprawled out on the ground exhausted. Kurenai told all three, "You all did well. Kiba-kun and Akamaru will need to work on stealth and their taijutsu a little more." Her eyes were looking at the boy and dog Inuzuka members.

Kiba grunted and told her, "Alright sensei we'll improve ourselves." His puppy Akamaru barked happily.

Kurenai's eyes drifted to Shino who recovered himself and stood tall awaiting Kurenai's words. She stood in front of him, "Shino-kun your tactics and strategies are still the best. I can't really find a fault in your abilities other than you rely to much on your insects and should find an alternative should a worst case scenario occur." Like always Shino responds with a simple head nod. She sighs and moves on to her last student.

Hinata was seated taking a few good breaths, she realized Kurenai was standing before her. Hinata remained silent wondering what her sensei would say. Kurenai smiled and told her, "Hinata-chan you have improved the most out of everyone. The only thing you need to work on is to harden your focus during combat and let go of your emotions during a battle. Other than that you've improved greatly Hinata-chan and I'm impressed."

The byakugan user smiled and simply said, "Arigatou sensei and I'll do my best." Kurenai looked at how late it was getting and said, "Well it's getting late so you guys are done for the day. Let's all head back now shall we?" Hinata politely told her, "Sorry sensei, but I'll head off on my own. I'm suppose to go to the Hokage's mansion for dinner."

'Oh I see. She has a dinner date with Naruto-kun.' Kurenai thought, another thing she was proud of. Her student finally got what she wanted for the past few years and since then her confidence has soared, "Okay then Hinata-chan. Give the family my regards, I'll see you tomorrow okay?" Hinata nodded and jumped off to get the the Hokage mansion.

Kiba said with a grin, "Hinata-chan sure is confident now! Her stutter disappeared as well!" Shino added, "Her abilities have also improved too."

"Yes and as a team we need to root her on to keep that confidence up." said Kurenai. She looked at her team saying, "Well let's get going."

* An Hour 1/2 Later: Hokage Mansion *

This was a regular dinner with Minato, Kushina, Arashi, Hana, Naruto, and Hinata who just got into the house. Kurenai was still cooking, Hana and Hinata offered to help her cook the food to which Kushina accepted. Minato retreated to his office when he got word from Kakashi about the Wave mission and all the complexities of it all. Arashi and Naruto stayed in the living room playing a game of shogi. After the cooking was done Kushina called out, "Okay boys come and eat!"

Arashi and Naruto stopped and walked over to the dining room. Kushina stopped Naruto and asked, "Naruto-kun can you go get your father from his office pretty please?" Naruto nodded and turned to go get his father.

Naruto stood at the door and knocked on the door and he could hear his father's voice telling him to come in. He opened the door and entered his father's office.

His father sat behind an oakwood desk with scrolls and papers clouding the top of it. Naruto looked around and saw bookshelves filled with many books. What caught his attention were the pictures on the walls of his dad, jiraiya, his brother when he was little and pictures of him and Haru when he came to Konoha.

There was a small toad on his father's desk that was starring at him. Minato told Naruto, "Hang on a second Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded and sat down on a chair waiting for his father. The little toad opened it's mouth and was facing Minato, the Hokage told the toad, "Alright, well as long as everyone is safe and that the bridge was completed. Aside from that mishap I can honestly say that a lot of good came out of this mission, so come on home you guys."

The toad closed it's mouth and said, "Message recorded Hokage-sama! I'll be sure to get it to Kakashi-san!"

"Please do so and give boss my greetings."

The toad nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Minato told Naruto, "Hey son something you wanna talk about?"

"Actually kaa-san told me to come get you for dinner." After that Naruto headed for the door and touched the doorknob, but his father's voice stopped him.

"Naruto-kun hold on."

He faced his father watching as he walked around the desk and coming to kneel in front of him so that they were eye level with each other. Minato put both his hands on Naruto's shoulders saying, "Naruto-kun you know that if you have anything you want to say then you can come to me and tell me right?"

"Hai." said Naruto.

"And I mean anything that you think you can't tell anyone else. I'm hear if you ever need someone to talk to son." Minato smiled and patted Naruto on his head. Naruto looked down and told, "Trust me tou-san if there was anything I would tell you." Minato thanked Naruto and the two walked out of the office to go eat.

Kushina, Hinata, and Hana were just about finished setting the dinner table and all that was left was Naruto and Minato. Kushina put her hands on her hips and said, "Now where are those boys of mine?"

Hana finished setting the last plate in front of Arashi and looking at the food set out, "Kushina-san their is sure a lot of food even for all of us." The Namikaze gal looked over and said, "You've obviously haven't seen my three boys eat before, but if Haru-chan was here then we'd need a little bit more food."

Hinata asked, "Do they really eat that much?" Arashi smiled and said to the young girl, "It's true, me, tou-san, Naruto-kun, and Haru-chan eat far more than anyone else and yet we don't gain any weight it seems."

Deciding to tease to two girls Kushina said, "I'll give you two girls my recipes since you'll be having to feed two of my boys after all." Hana and Hinata started to get a small blush on their cheeks making Arashi laugh. Minato and Naruto came into the room and they saw Minato take a good whiff of the food saying, "Man this food looks delicious. You girls did excellent, well let's dig in!" Minato took his seat next to his wife, Naruto sat next to Hinata, and Hana took the last spot next to Arashi.

Hana and Hinata saw that immediately Minato, Naruto, and Arashi started to stack their plates full of food. Hana said, "I've never seen Arashi-kun eat like this."

Hinata agreed never seeing Naruto eat like this either. While the guys started eating like their lives depended on it Kushina explained, "Well it's because they love a good home cooked meal. You'll only see them act like this when It's a home cooked, which is why I said I'll give you gals my recipes." Hinata and Hana now understood why.

Kushina watched as the two girls got some food before the blondes completely ate everything. She smiled and thought, 'Take good care of them girls.'

* Midnight: Outside Konoha's Wall *

Kakuzu and Hidan were standing on a very tall tree looking at the village. Kakuzu mused, "So very long ago more than half this village was destroyed when I tried to assassinate the Shodaime."

"Huh? I never heard no shit like that? How fucking old are you man?" Hidan asked. When Kakuzu didn't answer Hidan grunted and called him an 'ass'. He sat down on and asked, "So when do we go in?"

"In the morning we make contact with him first and find out what's going and when to act. When the plan starts we are merely the diversion team, attack and destroy as much as possible." Kakuzu explained.

Hidan smiled, "So basically cause as much mayhem as humanly possible." Kakuzu nodded and Hidan promptly shouted, "This is gonna get wild!"

* 7 o'clock a.m. *

Haru ran to the front gates and shouted, "It's good to be home!" Her team followed behind her, Kakashi told her, "We pulled an all nighter to get back home and yet somehow you still have the energy to run and shout."

Sakura and Sasuke pulled up the rear. Sakura said to her friend, "Whatever that energy that Kakashi-sensei speaks of is unholy. There should be no way for any human to be this energetic."

Before anyone else could say anything Sasuke started walking off saying, "I'm heading home if that's okay." Kakashi grabbed Sasuke by his shoulder saying, "Oh no you don't. We have to go report to the Hokage about the mission and the little trouble that came along with it." Sasuke grunted and they took the lead into the village.

When they started walking Kakashi immediately stopped feeling a presence that he didn't recognize. He turned to look behind him and didn't see anything. Haru stopped and said, "Kakashi-sensei? You okay?"

He didn't immediately answer, but after awhile he finally said, "It's nothing Haru-chan, nothing at all." After that he joined them back to heading over to the Hokage Tower.

* Konoha Detection & Defense Building *

A giant sphere of floated above the ground with four men sitting in a circle around it, inside the sphere was a model of Konoha. As the men watched the sphere closely one said, "The main gate has been tripped. We have two intruders in Konoha."

Another asked, "Where are their locations?"

The one who detected the intruders said, "I don't know. Though they infiltrated the village and they are concealed possibly using a jutsu masking their locations." Another one of the men turned to a few of the ninjas sitting with them, "Go and alert the Hokage that we have intruders!"

Six of the ninjas in the room nodded and left to go alert him.

* Hokage Tower *

Minato just let Kakashi and the rest of the team in the office and was briefed about the mission. The Hokage let out a sigh saying, "So Tazuna lied so that he wouldn't have to pay for a higher rank mission and in doing so not only put his life at risk but yours as well. You know Kakashi that you had no obligation to continue on with the mission right?" Kakashi nodded, "Yes Hokage-sama, I take full responsibility for the continuation of the mission."

Haru jumped in shouting, "Wait tou-san! It was my idea to let the mission continue!" Sakura also voiced, "We voted on it Hokage-sama so we are all to blame."

"That may be girls, but from what I am told Sasuke-kun here suffered a bad wound."

Sasuke shrugged off that comment. "Yeah, but we fixed him up didn't we. He's fine and he wouldn't die that easily." Haru told him. Kakashi put a hand on Haru's shoulder saying, "Haru that's enough now."

Minato told all of them, "Well you said that Tazuna intends to pay us for an A-Ranked mission on top of the C-Ranked mission he's already paid us for right?"

All of them nodded. Minato smiled and said, "Well then no harm no foul. You guys did good in your first C-Ranked mission."

Haru, Sakura, and Sasuke smiled. Minato informed them, "Haru-chan I meant to tell you that Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan are now officially a couple."

Haru and Sakura's eyes lit up both began bombarding the Hokage with questions. Kakashi grabbed both girls by their collars saying, "Okay, okay girls calm down. Why don't you girls go find Naruto and Hinata and ask them what's going on."

"That's a good idea! Come on Sakura-chan let's go." Without a say in the matter Haru grabbed Sakura by the wrist and ran out of the office with her. Sasuke grunted and asked, "Can I go now?"

Kakashi sighed and told him he could. Sasuke put his hands in his pockets and left the office. Minato smirked asking Kakashi, "So how's Sasuke's attitude?"

"Well sensei he has his moments when he's… umm normal. He's opening up more to Haru and Sakura as a team and it was through Haru and Sasuke's cooperation that they beat that ninja Haku." Kakashi explained.

Minato asked, "When Haru used the Kyuubi's chakra… Was she in control?"

"I don't know sensei. I was fighting Zabuza at the time and didn't have time to witness it myself, but I was definitely able to tell that it was the Kyuubi's chakra." Kakashi told him, "But seeing as that Sasuke is alive and that the Haku kid was alive as well can only mean that she was in a moment of control if not an instant."

Minato stood up and said, "Anything is possible. I don't trust Haru with the 'key' just yet, she's not strong enough to face that beast on her own."

Before Kakashi could ask more the doors to the office swung open and two ninjas walked in bowing before the Hokage. One spoke up, "Hokage-sama! Theres two intruders in Konoha!"

"Do they know where they are?" Minato asked with seriousness. The other spoke, "No we can't pinpoint their location!"

Minato looked at Kakashi and said, "Get a team together and find these intruders." Kakashi nodded and left. Minato looked at the two ninjas and said, "Double the watch at the gate entrances, alert everyone from Chunnin up that there are intruders in Konoha and to keep a keen eye out for anyone suspicious and head back to the Detection building and tell them to keep searching." The two followed orders and left to go alert some ninjas.

Minato looked out at his village and thought, 'I think I should go out as well.'

* Hokage Mansion *

Hinata stayed the night at the mansion and was helping Kushina clean the house as a thank you for letting her stay over. Naruto left to go do some training at one of the training grounds, Arashi and Hana left to her compound to go check on the puppies, which only left Kushina and Hinata. The two were in the kitchen cleaning up when they heard the doors open up and a blonde and pink haired girl running over to them.

Kushina saw that it was Haru and Sakura and they stood in front of Hinata bombarding her with questions:

H: "How did this happen Hinata-chan!"

S: "Did you guys kiss yet!"

H: "Are you guys really dating!"

S: "What do you two do now!"

Hinata was backed against a wall trying to process all the questions being thrown at her. Kushina grabbed Haru and pulled her into a suffocating hug saying, "My little Haru-chan I missed you so much!"

Haru tried to push away from her mom to try and breathe, but to no avail. Finally Kushina let her go and said, "Sorry I just missed you so much." Haru asked calmly after getting smothered, "Anyway Hinata-chan when did this all happen?"

Hinata blushed and slowly told the two about what happened from the date to now. Sakura had stars in her eyes saying, "Oh that's so romantic."

Haru smiled and patted Hinata on the back saying, "That's excellent news! One of my best friends is going out with my brother!" Hinata kept blushing as Haru continued to talk. Kushina heard a knock at her door and walked over to answer it, when she did she saw an ANBU standing at the door, "What is it?" Kushina asked.

The ANBU said, "There are two intruders in Konoha, we were ordered by the Hokage to secure the mansion. All the other clan compounds are being watched as well, a curfew is in affect at the moment."

"Isn't that much for a couple of intruders."

"As far as we know Kushina-sama is that they infiltrated the village and their whereabouts are unknown. The Hokage as said that no one leave their homes."

Kushina told him, "Well I need to get my son Naruto, he's out training right now."

The ANBU blocked her saying, "I'll go get him personally. I'll take a squad with me to go and get him. Which training ground is he at?"

Kushina was a little irritated, but answered, "He's at the third."

The ANBU nodded and said, "I'll be back with him soon." He disappeared after saying that and Kushina closed the doors, she turned around and saw that Haru, Sakura, and Hinata were at the door and heard everything. Kushina put on a smile and said, "Don't worry they'll be back with Naruto-kun quickly."

It seemed to work, but Haru asked, "Mom shouldn't we be out there? We're ninjas after all and we should be helping out."

The red head kneeled in front of her daughter saying, "Whoever these two are they are strong enough to avoid detection. Let's just let the veteran ninjas handle this."

"But-"

Kushina put her finger on Haru's lips to stop her, "Haru-chan this is serious. Your tou-san I'm sure is out there looking for these intruders himself. Let's put our faith in them." The three girls had no choice, but to agree, "Good, now what do you say we have some girl time and I teach you a strong jutsu?"

Haru perked up and said, "That sounds awesome mom!" Kushina told the girls to follow her to the Hokage training ground to teach them a strong jutsu.

* Training Ground 3 *

Naruto summoned out as man clones as he could and started to fight hand to hand with each one. Each clone was strong and it took Naruto a moment to defeat each one. After awhile he got his momentum down and it was left to just two clones. One ran at Naruto trying to punch him, but Naruto grabbed the wrist and tossed it over his shoulder then stomped on the head making it disappear. The last clone was behind Naruto ready to strike, Naruto spun and was going to counter, but out of nowhere the clone was sliced in half by a three-bladed scythe. Naruto's eyes widened in shock and saw the clone disappear in a puff of smoke.

Naruto looked at the trees and saw Kakuzu and Hidan standing there, Hidan retracted his weapon and laughed, "Hahaha, the look on your face kid is priceless."

He glared at Hidan and shouted, "I didn't need your help teme." Hidan held his weapon out and said, "You wanna fight ya little bastard?"

Naruto took those fighting words and was prepared to fight. Kakuzu stomped his foot on the ground making both of them stop, "Hidan we don't have time for this." Hidan made a gruff and put his scythe on his back. Kakuzu walked over to Naruto asking, "Well?"

"I plan on starting tomorrow. If you can start a commotion at the park, it's close to the tower and it will cause the most commotion."

Hidan shouted, "Yeah we seen where the park was on the way here dumbass and it's too damn close to the Hokage's Tower, we'll be caught for sure if we fight there!"

Naruto said, "Not necessarily. Along with that it's close to the vicinity of the tower there are also a number of houses and people nearby and the Konoha ninjas won't risk injuring the surrounding people, they'll use basic tactics while you two have the advantage of going all out."

Hidan shut up at the moment realizing that the his plan was thought out. Kakuzu asked, "What of the jinchuriki?"

"I planned that out as well. The reason I say noon is because I need time to handle a few problems for my escape."

"So you capture her and escape in the confusion. That's the Naruto I remember." Kakuzu said, "Alright we'll start the attack tomorrow, but first me and Hidan must leave since the village detected us and I'm sure they are on alert. We have an idea of our own, I look forward to seeing how this turns out." With that Kakuzu started to walk off. Hidan stared at Naruto for a moment and said, "Don't disappoint kid." and left after.

Naruto watched them leave and was soon joined by five ANBU ninjas. The leader said, "Naruto-sama we need to go." Naruto asked, "What for?" The ANBU explained about the intruder and Naruto had no choice but to follow them.

* An Hour Later: Center of the Village *

Minato was surrounded by many ninjas who relayed information to him about what they found. Minato was also joined by Arashi who searched for these intruders as well. "It seems that they are a tricky bunch." Minato said.

Hana and her mother and clan head Tsume found no scents that were out of the ordinary. That didn't surprise Minato since Konoha is well known for their power and tracking skills, so it wouldn't be exactly weird that the intruder knew about the Hyuugas, Aburames, and Inuzukas.

Arashi said, "Whoever they are they are smart enough to remain undetected."

Another ninja jumped in the group and shouted, "Hokage-sama! The west wall reported two suspicious characters jumping over the wall, they attempted to follow, but two of the ninjas were killed in the pursuit!"

Everyone was in shock and Minato shouted, "Tsume, Kakashi, Arashi, you three take three ninjas each and follow the two now!" All three started picking out ninjas from the group and ran off to the west wall. Minato told everyone, "The rest of you patrol the borders and thoroughly check everyone who comes and leaves the village! Whoever they are they obviously came here for a reason now we just need to find out what it is!"

The ninjas followed their orders and left. Minato headed back to the office to alert the clans to be on guard.

* Next Day *

After the lockdown of the village things slowly returned to normal. The ANBU posted outside the Hokage Mansion escorted Sakura back to her home and Kushina sent a message to Hiashi telling him that Hinata was with them and was safe and that she was staying the night with them. Minato and Arashi didn't come home since they both pulled all nighters on this situation. To some an intruder that comes and goes quickly might seem like nothing, but ninjas knew that an intruder doesn't just come and go like this, but was unsettling was that they roamed about the village undetected.

Everyone was able to leave their homes again, but other ninjas would catch glimpses of ANBU ninjas lurking in the shadows patrolling the village and other jounins were patrolling the outer walls of Konoha for any clues to their unwanted guests, but came up with nothing.

Arashi was on the top of the front gate keeping aware of everything around him and a very familiar chakra caught his attention, Hana and her ninken were with him as well keeping watch. He turned his head slightly to see Itachi appear next to him. Itachi was wearing his ANBU uniform and his mask even, but Arashi could always tell it was him because of his mask. Itachi asked the blonde, "Anything?"

"Nothing yet. I wonder what they were after." Arashi responded. Itachi removed his mask and sat down on the giant door, "They left once we beefed up our security and search. Whatever they were looking for they obviously didn't find it."

Hana questioned Itachi asking, "How do you know?"

Instead of Itachi speaking Arashi said, "Otherwise they wouldn't have left so quickly. Either that or they were former ninjas of our village and found it quickly, but the guys at the detection wing didn't recognize the chakra signatures of either suspect. Those guys are old so they would recognize each ninja's chakra signature from our village."

"On top of that they were high leveled chakra guys and for them to hide their chakra to that degree is a rarity." Itachi told her. Hana gulped and responded, "Then they could be exceptionally strong then."

"Exactly, so we cannot drop our guard now. They'll definitely come back to try and get what they were originally after and the next time they do… We'll be ready." Arashi said confidently, he turned to look at the village behind him whispering, "Our village depends on us."

* Hokage Mansion *

Naruto sat on his bed looking at the pictures that hung on the wall. One was of him and his family that they took last year and next to it was a recent one of him and Hinata the day after they announced they were going out. Kushina surprised them both by taking the two to get a picture together, that same time Naruto went out and got a frame for the picture and hung it up on his wall. Hinata was hugging Naruto around his waist and both looking straight ahead, Hinata was smiling brightly and he like always had the unemotional mask.

The more he looked at the two photos on the wall the more he wondered. 'I should be above this, I was taught to dispatch all emotions, to be the perfect ninja, to be feared… That's what I was raised to believe, to be heartless… Yet now…' Naruto sighed. Since that date with Hinata he's been unsure of many things and always went in a straight path for what he wanted, but he never thought what would happen after he achieved his goal. If he had stayed with Kakuzu and two lived like it was before Akatsuki came would the two still be bounty hunters causing trouble everywhere they went. What about when they did fight? What would've been his purpose after that?

The bottom line was he made two promises and both compromised each other. One hand he promised Kakuzu that he'd fight to kill him when the time came, but in order to do so he would need to be close by him so as to stop anyone from killing him before that time. Then the promise with Haru and Hinata, he promised he'd get stronger with them to become the new Sannin as his sister put it and in order to keep that promise he'd need to stay in Konoha.

'Had I been faced with this ultimatum long ago my decision would be set in stone… No I know what to do now… It's the right choice I'm sure of it.'

Naruto got up and grabbed a scroll that sat on his dresser. He took another look at the pictures and reached up to grab one off of the wall and took it out of the frame. Looking at the picture he ripped the picture down the middle and placed a piece of the ripped picture in the frame and hung it back on the wall. He took a deep breath and walked out of his room making sure to lock it in the process of leaving.

Walking downstairs he went into the living room and saw his mother on the couch reading a book. He walked over to her and saw the title of the book that read 'Tales of a Once Deadly Ninja.'

Kushina looked up from her book and saw Naruto looking down at her, "Something wrong Naruto-kun?"

"That book."

She flashed the cover of the book at him saying, "It's Jiraiya's latest novel. It's about a ninja that's been away from home for a long time and upon his return he found a family that he never knew he had and a love that he never knew he could have. I gotta say I love Jiraiya's books more when it's not part of the 'Icha Icha' series. This book reminds me a little bit of you." the last part she said with a smile.

Naruto paused and asked, "What life is the ninja choosing?"

She opened it up and said, "Right now he's being confronted by a shadow from his past and is fighting to stay with the life he wants now. It's really getting good."

Naruto's eyes fell on the book and he asked, "Where did Haru-chan and Hinata-chan go?"

She looked up from her book and looked at the clock on the wall, "Well they left about ten minutes ago." She grinned madly and told him, "I think Hinata-chan is gonna get you a gift."

"Oh." was all he could say. Naruto thought, 'It's now or never.' Naruto looked his mother in her eyes saying, "Kaa-san."

She tilted her head as she looked at him wondering what would he ask next, but was taken by surprise when Naruto hugged her. Naruto hugged her tightly and said, "I'm going out for… well I don't know for how long."

Hugging him back she told him, "Okay, just be careful while your out okay? Love you son."

Naruto felt a tug at his heart from those words and he walked away waving bye to her. Kushina waved goodbye to him and watched him disappear as he turned the corner heading to the door, she heard the door open and close knowing that he left so she returned to reading her book.

He leapt away from the mansion heading off to look for Hinata and Haru.

* Outside Konoha *

Kakuzu and Hidan were well hidden outside the village watching as the ninjas ran across the patrol areas. They were tree for sometime awaiting news from their leader and sure enough they got it. Appearing behind Hidan and Kakuzu was the holographic image of their leader.

Pain told the two, "We've been compromised."

Hidan tried his best not to shout, "What? You mean Akatsuki has been found out?" Kakuzu asked, "By who?"

"Orochimaru. He sold information about us to a few villages and now we are slowly being found out, but worst of all. The Toad Sage Jiraiya found out about us."

Both Hidan and Kakuzu's eyes widened realizing how serious it was now. Pain told the two, "It will only be a matter of time before information about us is leaked and the Nations begin to come after us realizing that we are a group of S-Classed criminals. Hurry this along."

Kakuzu asked, "We are, now about what we asked for?"

Pain held out his hand saying, "They are here." Kakuzu and Hidan turned around and saw two shadow figures appear out of nowhere. Hidan spat saying, "I hate having to do this, but I can't say that I this won't be fun." Kakuzu made a smirk and knew everything was coming into place. The Taki-nin sat down saying, "Let's get started!"

* Konoha *

Hinata and Haru just left a shop getting a gift for Naruto. Hinata had asked the owner if she could wrap the gift inside, she used orange wrapping paper and the shape of the gift was like a ball. Both girls told the owner thanks and left. Hinata asked Haru, "Do you think Naruto-kun will like it?"

Haru flashed Hinata a foxy grin saying, "No I think he'll love it!" Hinata smiled too at Haru's words. Hinata told Haru that they should head back to go and give the present to Naruto. Haru could see the warm energy rolling off Hinata, she's known Hinata a very long time. Her and her family attended the funeral for Hinata's mother, vaguely she remembered what Hinata's mom looked like. Since then Hinata had been a tad bit distant from others and rarely talked unless she had an opinion.

She was happy that Hinata was finding her happiness again. Haru was so focused on Hinata that she didn't realize she ran into someone, Hinata caught Haru before she fell, "Haru-chan are you okay?"

Hinata smiled and said, "Yeah I'm jus-" Haru looked up and saw who she ran into and shouted, "Oi teme next time watch where your going!" Standing in front of her was an irritated Sasuke, he picked himself up and shouted back, "You watch where your going next you ditz!"

Sakura was standing behind Sasuke and sighed that the two were at it again. Haru stood up and shouted back, "Me! You obviously weren't watching where 'YOU' were going!"

"I'm not the one staring off into space!" Sasuke shot back. The two stared one another down while Hinata and Sakura watched the scene unfold before them.

"Hey Hinata-chan what's that?" Sakura asked after seeing the present in her hands. Hinata looked at the gift telling her, "I got this for Naruto-kun just now. We were actually heading over to go see Naruto-kun right now so that I could give it to him."

Sakura's eyes gleamed as she said, "Awwww that's so sweet." Hinata blushed at Sakura's words.

Haru and Sasuke were still glaring at each other something fierce when Naruto jumped down next to the two breaking their glares at the other. Haru was taken by surprise and saw her twin standing by her, "Oh hey aniki! We were just gonna go find you!" Sasuke's eyes locked with Naruto as he stared him down. Naruto's eyes glanced Sasuke's way and he merely scoffed at the attempted to rattle him by trying to look down on him.

Naruto looked over to Hinata and saw her walk over to him with a smile so bright. Haru and Sasuke moved out of the way and let Hinata stand in front of him. Naruto could see that she was holding a gift in her hand and from what his mother said was true then it was for him.

Hinata held up the gift saying, "Naruto-kun I got this for you. I hope you like it." Naruto looked at the wrapped up present and took it, but he didn't open it and instead put it in his pocket. Hinata, Haru, Sakura, and Sasuke saw him put the gift away without looking at it.

He grabbed both of Hinata's hands and said, "Hinata-chan… Thank you for taking care of me all this time, but I have to go away now." Hinata, Haru, and Sakura gasped at what he said. Before Haru could walk up to her brother Sakura grabbed Haru's arm and held her back so they could see what was going on.

Hinata was a bit taken back, but thought of a possible reason, "D-Do you mean that you have a mission you need to do?"

He was silent for a moment before answering her, "Yeah… A previous mission that still isn't done yet and one that I have to finish. It requires that I leave the village for a long time. For safety reasons I'm ending what we have going right now."

Haru and Sakura heard Naruto's words and saw the shocked and saddened look on Hinata's face. Haru started to storm over to the two, but again Sakura shot both of her arms under Haru's arms and clasping her hands shut behind Haru's neck to stall her and looked to Sasuke to help, but the Uchiha was just as confused as them about this situation.

"W-W-Why N-Naruto-kun? W-What did I do wrong?" she asked as tears started to well in her eyes. Naruto felt a painful tug in his chest at her distraught face, but he needed to keep his will strong. He cupped Hinata's face in his hands and brought his lips to come to hers as he kissed her. Naruto brought his hands from her face to wrap around her waist to keep her in place.

She still couldn't stop the tears in her eyes from falling and was willing to make him not go through with this mission and not throw away what they have. She doesn't want to lose the only thing that gave her real happiness in a long time. After they broke apart they all heard a loud explosion that rocked the village, all turned to look in the direction of the sound and saw a series of explosions that seemed very close to the park.

Naruto knew that it was time and he whispered, "It's time."

* Moments Before: Konoha Park *

Hidan and Kakuzu took a risk of jumping over the wall and were immediately spotted, but were determined to get this mission done. Hidan shouted, "We are close to the park! Let's go wild now!" Kakuzu felt that now was a good as time as any and the park was drawing closer, so why not start now.

Both of them slid to a stop and waited for the ninjas to arrive. The citizens of Konoha saw the two just standing there wondering who they were. Soon enough Hidan and Kakuzu were surrounded by many Konoha ninjas which included a number of ANBU.

Hidan gave a sadistic smile saying out loud, "Damn there are a lot of you boys. Oi Kakuzu can we start the slaughter now?" Kakuzu looked at the sheer numbers and most definitely they were outnumbered, but he knew better. He and Hidan had more power on their side. Kakuzu pulled his sleeve to his right arm up telling his partner, "Sure let's go-"

He was cut short when a tri-pronged kunai landed next to his feet and and felt someone grab his arm. Hidan was surprised and turned to his right and saw a blonde haired ninja gripping Kakuzu's wrist. Kakuzu saw the blonde and said, "You must be Arashi Namikaze am I right?" He felt Arashi tighten his grip on his wrist.

Arashi spoke with venom lacing his voice, "That would be me and you would be Kakuzu am I right?" Kakuzu nodded at the question, "You got some nerve showing your face here in Konoha after what you did." The image of Kakuzu's face from the picture they had of him was seared into his mind and he wanted nothing more than to bring him down. Kakuzu smirked and said, "The look in your eyes. It's one hate isn't it?"

"Your coming with me now." Arashi said.

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes and said, "I don't think so." Arashi saw a lump form under Kakuzu's right shoulder and a bright light coming from it and he immediately let go, but Kakuzu said, "Too late."

Hidan smiled as he and everyone else was engulfed in a massive ball of fire that erupted from Kakuzu.

* Hokage Tower *

Minato signed a few documents and pushed the papers aside thinking, 'Well that's all done, let's see maybe I'll go to Ichiraku and get some-' His thoughts were cut short when the sound of an explosion caught his immediate attention. He pushed himself out of his chair so fast that it fell over and saw outside his window smoke coming from the park. He pushed the windows open and immediately ANBU swarmed to him. Minato told them, "Follow me!"

All the ANBU shouted, "Hai Hokage-sama!"

Minato and his ANBU started running to the explosion.

* Konoha Park *

Kakuzu and Hidan stood in the center of the explosion with their robes burned off and their upper bodies bare (save for Kakuzu's mask). Hidan was a bit burned up, but overall he was okay. Kakuzu's body was adorned with stitches that kept his body connected together. Hidan had his scythe in hand and watched as the ninjas regained their senses after the explosion. Kakuzu saw Arashi standing and he was completely unscathed by the explosion.

"That was a nifty trick Kakuzu." Arashi said.

Hidan whistled saying, "No one's ever survived an attack like that from Kakuzu at that close a range before… Aside from me of course." Arashi watched both men carefully so as not to be caught by surprise like that again. Kakuzu cracked both his knuckles and said, "I'll take him. You kill off the survivors."

On cue Hidan rushed to his left seeing a few bleeding ninjas and attempted to slice at them, but was stopped when he was punched in the face sending him flying back. Kakuzu's attention was on this new visitor and he mumbled, "Kakashi Hatake."

Kakashi was now standing straight up and his headband up revealing his sharingan, "Well, well I never would've thought that some kind of commotion would occur in Konoha like this." said the laid back ninja. Hidan stood up and shouted, "You fucker! I'm gonna skin ya!" Hidan dashed at Kakashi swinging his scythe.

The jounin calmly pulled out two kunais and engaged Hidan in a battle.

Kakuzu heard footsteps and saw Arashi running at him full speed.

Arashi was gonna meet him head on, but skidded to a stop when Kakuzu's stomach opened up revealing a ANBU Bull mask. He barely avoided a series of lighting bolts that shot from the mask's mouth. One of the lightning bolts shot and almost hit Arashi, but a tri-pronged kunai flew in-between Arashi and the lighting bolt.

Kakuzu and Arashi were both surprised and saw that the kunai was like a lighting rod absorbing the attack. After the light died down from the attack Kakuzu felt a sharp blade against his throat, he turned his head slightly and saw another blonde that he immediately made out. He looked into the man's blue eyes and said, "The Yondaime Hokage takes the stage. This is interesting."

Minato his kunai pointed at Kakuzu's neck saying, "What are you doing in my village?"

He didn't answer and moved to attack, but Minato was faster and sliced Kakuzu's throat open watching as black blood shot everywhere. Arashi saw Kakuzu crash to the ground and laid lifeless on the floor.

Kakashi saw his sensei kill Kakuzu out of the corner of his eye and he told Hidan, "Your partner bit the dust. You don't stand a chance." During the exchange Hidan was able to glance quickly where his partner was at and saw that he lay on the floor in a pool of black blood. Without his sharingan he might've missed it, but he could've sworn he saw Hidan smile upon seeing his partner slain.

Minato and Arashi looked at each other than to Kakashi's direction and started to walk into that direction to back him up. Minato took a few steps and stopped when he heard a familiar voice.

"Behind you!"

He recognized it as his son Arashi's and he spun around quickly seeing Kakuzu behind him and two ANBU masks sticking out of his shoulders. A Bull mask and a Monkey mask, both had their mouths open the Bull with lightning and the Monkey with fire. Minato cursed, "Shit!"

And yet another explosion occurred when the two attacks hit.

* Naruto *

The young gennins heard yet another explosion come from the park and many ninjas running into that direction. Naruto looked at the massive wall and knew that now was his chance, the guards would put his father's protection above their guard duty. Naruto grabbed Hinata by her shoulder and spun her around.

When she was face to face with him he pulled her close and whispered in her ears. Letting her absorb what he said he punched Hinata in her stomach knocking the wind out of her and making her pass out. As she fell and her vision blurred Hinata reached up and grabbed Naruto's leaf headband pulling it off of him saying, "D-Don't go N-Naruto-kun..."

Naruto caught her before she hit the ground and he looked up and saw Haru running at him ready to fight him. Naruto threw Hinata at Haru making the two collide.

Haru caught Hinata and saw a blur of blue, she realized that Sasuke had ran at Naruto swinging at him. Naruto was prepared and fought back against Sasuke trading blows with the young Uchiha. Haru shouted to Sakura, "Watch Hinata!"

Sakura ran over to Hinata and took her away from the battle and watched as Haru engaged Naruto as well and was amazed as she saw Naruto evade both Sasuke and Haru's onslaught of attacks.

Naruto grabbed Haru's wrist and pulled her in front of him making Sasuke stop his attack momentarily. When he stopped Naruto pushed Haru into Sasuke and dashed forward punching Sasuke in the gut. He stumbled back holding onto Haru as he did so. When both of them recovered they saw Naruto ran for the giant wall and immediately both pursed him. Haru shouted to Sakura, "Take Hinata to the hospital then tell my tou-san what happened!"

The pink haired kunoichi watched both her teammates chase down Naruto. There was nothing she would've been able to do, but she could watch after Hinata for them.

Naruto made it to the wall and ran up the side with great speeds, he turned to look behind him and saw that Sasuke and Haru were not to far behind. Naruto then thought, 'It's all going as I planned.' He made it to the top and immediately summoned two shadow clones. Both clones grabbed one of Naruto's arms and flung him from the top of the wall into the direction of the trees below at great speeds.

When Haru and Sasuke made it to the top they engaged both clones and dispatched them as quickly as they could. Looking over the wall Sasuke said to her, "Your sure about this?"

Haru jumped off the wall and out of Konoha chasing after Naruto and Sasuke jumped after her to give her support. One thing he knew was that this event was about to shake Konoha.

* An Hour Later: Konoha Park *

Kakuzu was not letting up his relentless attack on the Hokage not even giving him any breathing room. Minato used a substitution jutsu at the last minute and escaped, Arashi was trying to help his father if it wasn't for a massive mass of black threads that had the Bull's mask attached to it attacking him.

Minato battled with Kakuzu and felt something was off, the way he fought was irregular. There was no tactics in his attacks, no stringing together a series of successful strikes, nor did he fight like a man. What struck him as odd was that the Monkey mask was imbedded in his chest and didn't attack when it was convenient. It was all strange.

Arashi kept avoiding lighting bolts being thrown at him. When he tossed a kunai it slice through the wires, but they just reconnected and fixed it. He didn't pay attention to his surroundings and slipped, the mask opened it's mouth and attacked. The lighting charged in it's mouth. Arashi saw Itachi appear beneath the monster and delivered a strong uppercut to the monster shutting it's mouth making the lighting go off inside of it blowing it's upper half off and making sparks fly everywhere.

Itachi used a substitution jutsu and avoided the lighting as well.

Minato saw that Kakuzu stopped for a moment and capitalized on his opportunity. Punching Kakuzu in his face and buying time Minato charged his jutsu in his hand shouting, "Rasengan!" He drove the blue sphere of chakra into Kakuzu's body making him fly off slamming into a number of trees before coming to a stop. He straightened himself out and saw Itachi help his son up. Glancing around he saw Kakashi still fighting Hidan.

Taking this chance he charged another rasengan and got to work. Kakashi saw his sensei finish Kakuzu and backed up and charged his own jutsu. Hidan Shouted at him, "You've left yourself wide open!" He started to swing his scythe, but stopped to the sound of footsteps behind him. Turning his head he saw the Hokage running at him, quickly looking ahead he saw Kakashi running at him with lighting sparking from his hand.

Hidan cursed out loud and heard both men shout.

Minato: "Rasengan!"

Kakashi: "Raikiri!"

Both attacks hit Hidan, the rasengan from the back and a raikiri from the front. As Kakashi's attack cut into Hidan's body it eventually connected with his sensei's rasengan, the two knew what was gonna happen next. Upon both jutsu colliding with each other a force of chakra exploded making both men shoot off into opposite directions and the resulting explosion ripped Hidan's body to shreds sending bits of his body everywhere.

Arashi and Itachi caught Minato before he hit the ground and Kakashi was caught by his 'rival' Guy before he hit the ground as well. After the recovery Minato told the two, "Thanks for the save."

"Any time pops." Arashi said grinning.

Guy put Kakashi on his feet shouting, "Yosh! My friend your youth exploded and that chakra explosion is proof of that! Hahaha!" Kakashi merely said, "You know your making it difficult to thank you." Kakashi motioned for Guy to follow him to the kage.

Minato dusted himself off and saw his ninjas converge to him wondering if he was okay. Minato didn't have time to talk and shouted, "Okay first find out how many wounded and how many deaths! Next find my son Naruto!" A few of his ninjas were confused about that last part, but didn't question it and ran off to do as told.

Arashi asked worried, "You think they were here for Naruto?" Minato took a good breath and said, "Don't know, but I don't want to chance it. I want to know where his whereabouts are." Itachi went over to Kakuzu's body to inspect to make sure he was dead.

He found the body buried under a few destroyed logs of trees, he moved a few of the logs and saw the body of Kakuzu… or what he thought 'was' Kakuzu. Upon inspection he shouted, "Hokage-sama! Come here quickly!"

Minato, Arashi, Kakashi, and Guy ran over to Itachi. Arashi asked, "What happened?" Itachi didn't answer, but pointed to Kakuzu's body. When the four men looked at the body they all gasped. Minato ran over to where Hidan's body was and found the man's head and saw the same thing he found wrong with Kakuzu's body. They weren't the same.

* Hidan & Kakuzu *

Both man sat in a meditating position looking at the village from afar. Hidan scoffed shouting, "That wasn't fucking fun at all! Those guys were stronger than I thought!" Hidan was pissed that he didn't kill not a single person. Kakuzu stood up and said, "We were meant to make sure Naruto got away with the jinchuriki, we need to thank leader for his assistance. Now let's go. We need to tail him and make sure he isn't followed."

Hidan raised a brow asking, "Why the fuck don't we just join up with him and take him the rest of the way to the hideout?"

"He'll want to do this on his own, so let's respect that and meet up with him when he gets to the hideout. Let's go." Kakuzu said. Hidan stretched and followed after Kakuzu.

* Ten Minutes Later: Konoha Park *

Minato sat off to the side and watched the medic nins examine the bodies of 'Hidan' and 'Kakuzu'. Hana joined up with them later when she heard the explosions, but with Arashi and Itachi being way faster than her she didn't make it to the fight and instead stood off to the side to watch the fights. She would more get in the way than be of help when Arashi fights. She was tending to his father's wounds the best she could.

They all stood and watched as they medics worked their magic. One returned and told the Hokage, "Well from what we know of Kakuzu from the info Taki shared with us is that he's an 'A' blood type, he has red scleras and turquoise eyes, and his body-" he just stopped and realized the ninjas were starring at him waiting for him to just get to it, "Um well this isn't him. The blood type is wrong, the eyes are not the color, his skin, weight and height are all wrong. This isn't Kakuzu."

Guy said, "This makes no sense."

Arashi added, "It doesn't, he even told me that his name was Kakuzu and he looked exactly as described." Hana told all of them, "From what I can remember from Getsu was that his scent doesn't match up with this body, but I didn't smell the change until when his body was removed from the ruble of trees."

"What about the second guy? His accomplice?" Kakashi asked.

The medic looked back and saw the other medics putting the pieces on a white clothe for examination, "So far from what you described his body it already doesn't match, but we'll find out real soon." Minato thanked him and told him to carry on. They still conversed about what the possibilities on what is going on, but were cut short when an ANBU ninja jumped down next to them carrying Sakura Haruno.

Sakura ran up to them and was breathing a bit heavily upon looking for the Hokage. Minato asked, "Sakura-chan? What are you doing here?"

Taking a few needed breaths Sakura told them, "It's Naruto!" Immediately they all moved closer to hear what she had to say about Naruto Namikaze.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

Next chapter is called: They Clash. I'm gonna start writing it ASAP! Have to keep this brief so I can start writing it! Thanks for reading!


	21. They Clash

Chapter Twenty One : They Clash

_** "To betray you must first belong" -Harold Philby**_

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Land of Fire *

Naruto leapt from tree to tree distancing himself further and further away from Konoha, but he could still tell that both Sasuke and Haru were hot on his trail. He needed to get to the bridge as quickly as he possibly could, the bridge that he needed to get to went over a massive canyon, it separates The Land of Fire and Kusagakure. Once you pass the bridge you'll be out of Fire country all he needed was to pass that border and keep them hot on his trail so he could end this mission.

Sasuke and Haru stopped on another tree, Sasuke whipped out a kunai and marked an arrow on a tree pointing into a direction they were headed. Haru looked over at Sasuke and saw his sharingan was activated, but he only had two tomoes in his eyes which left it incomplete. So far they've come in handy allowing him to see Naruto's chakra through the trees. They started moving again at a faster pace, but something bugged Haru, "Hey Sasuke?"

He only grunted as a response. "Why are you helping me chase my brother? From what I know you hate him don't you?"

Sasuke was silent for a brief moment, but decided to tell her, "I never hated him…"

"Then why? Why aren't you friends with him? On that note why did you stop being around us?"

"I lost almost everything. I only have Itachi, the one man I can't forgive. When my clan died, so did I, but you and Sakura never gave up on me and kept trying to get me to join back with you guys. Hinata, Kiba, Ino, Choji, everyone back home are still my friends, it's just easier to distance myself from you all after how I acted. Then he came, Naruto. I at first didn't like him simply because he looked like your brother and father… a constant reminder that they help cause the death of my clan." Sasuke kept his eyes focused ahead never looking away, "I don't care what really happens to him, but he makes you all happy and you guys seem to get stronger because of him. You were right when we set up teams awhile back, I need to stop acting like the world revolves around me. I can't forgive Itachi for what he's done, but I can understand that he weighed his chances that a village full of families was more to side with than a family that thrived on power."

Haru looked at Sasuke, "Arigatou, though I don't like the idea that you dislike Naruto for something he wasn't involved in, but your helping me and Hinata get him back. That's all that matters right now."

"Haru? I'm doing this so no one ends up like me… Hinata is a caring person and to see her wallow in pain is something I can't stand, just like with you. I'm tired of seeing the pained faces of others, so I'll do this for you guys as a thank you for not giving up on me."

The blonde now saw the Uchiha in new light. A small tear swelled up in her eye and she thought, 'Sasuke-kun… thank you.'

* Back in Konoha *

Minato stood at the front gate of the village standing next to Shikaku. The Nara clan head asked, "You could only spare them?"

Minato was grinding his teeth slowly, "That's all I can spare at this point. Arashi, Itachi, Kakashi, Hana, and Guy should be enough to handle this. When more ninjas pile in I can send reinforcements, but at the moment we need to fix this and beef up security. I'm ashamed that I can't go any farther than this without endangering the village."

"Hokage-sama, what will we do if they do bring Naruto back? He's gonna be looked on as a traitor to the village, he faces possible execution for his part in this. Once Danzo catches the entire story you know he'll be ruthless." Said Shikaku. Minato trusted his Jounin Commander knowing that he was the best pick for the position. Shikaku probably weighed the pros and cons of this and right now if he had to guess he'd say that things were going to get ugly.

"However if Naruto isn't brought back… You know what he'll demand."

Minato nodded, "Yes I know, but if we succeed in bringing him back then I could at least do more. I can only rely on my ninjas to do this."

Shikaku looked at his Hokage and knew that he would do anything possible to save his son from any kind of danger, "We'll just have to wait and see what's gonna happen. As you said we can only rely on them right now."

They both stood motionless looking out into the distance.

* Land of Fire *

Sasuke and Haru were still chasing after Naruto, but because they needed to stop and leave clues to their whereabouts to any possible backup that could be following and because of this Naruto was inching further away from them. Sasuke remembered from studying the map when they were at the academy the territories and borders of each ninja village and was able to tell that in the direction they were going they were heading toward Kusagakure territory.

'If he gets across that bridge, than it's over. We can't go any further.' Sasuke thought. He looked over at Haru and shouted, "We have to go faster! His chakra signature is almost nothing but a speck!" Haru did as she was told and ran at an even faster rate. Sasuke and Haru continued their fast paced chase after Naruto, but they weren't getting any closer. If anything he seemed to moving faster as well.

All of a sudden Sasuke grabbed Haru by her shoulder and stopped on a tree branch. Haru smacked Sasuke's hand away and shouted, "What was that for! He's getting away!" Sasuke glared at her and said, "Someone is up ahead and it isn't Naruto."

Haru could hear the shaky tone in his voice. "What's wrong?" she asked. Sasuke's hand shook as he told her, "This guy, his chakra is off the scale. It's practically radiating nothing but chakra, it's not even fitting in my field of vision and most of all there's a feel of blood lust in the air."

"Well look at what I found."

Both Haru and Sasuke froze and saw a man come into their sights. He was a very tall man, but what was odd about him was that he had pale blue skin, small, round white eyes, gill-like facial markings under his eyes, dark blue hair in the shape of a shark's fin, and he smiled showing sharp triangular teeth. His attire composed of a black cloak with red clouds, and his Mist headband was styled to cover his head leaving only his face and hair showing. They could see on his back he had a massive sword wrapped up in bandages leaving only the handle visible.

Sasuke stood in front of Haru shouting, "Who are you!"

The shark man grinned not answering and instead said, "Your not one to go around demanding things like that sprite. I won't need Samehada to handle you, my orders are simple… make sure that Naruto gets away safely."

Both Sasuke and Haru's eyes widened in shock that this guy knew Naruto's name. Haru stepped from around Sasuke he voice dangerously low, "How do you know my brother's name?"

"I helped teach Naruto a few sword styles some years back. The gaki has a lot of promise as a swordsman on top of his ninja training. From looking at you kids, the little blonde there must be Haru Namikaze and the sharingan user there must be one of the last of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke Uchiha if I'm right?" They watched as he smiled wider and continued, "Looks like we got company."

Haru looked behind her and saw familiar faces, "Aniki!"

Sasuke looked behind him as well and saw his brother, "I-Itachi?"

Arashi, Itachi, Kakashi, Guy, Hana and her ninken landed on the tree behind the two gennins. Arashi and Itachi leapt on the same tree as their siblings.

Haru asked, "How did you guys get to us so quickly?"

"Hiraishin… With my Hiraishin and Guy's amazing strength he was able to toss the kunai long distances away and I simply transport us at a faster rate. If anything we could've gotten Naruto ourselves at the rate we were going, but it's thanks to your hints we got here this fast." said Arashi. Itachi noticed the black cloaked man and said, "You must be the Monster of the Hidden Mist Village, Kisame Hoshigaki."

Kisame smiled and responded, "Well there are a lot of famous ninjas here. Arashi Namikaze, Itachi Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake. The other two I'm not familiar with."

Kakashi and the others jumped on the same branch as Arashi ready to fight again.

"Counting those mutts there this is gonna be a ten on one battle." Kisame said.

Kakashi told his students, "You two stand back. We'll handle this." Kakashi lifted up his headband revealing his sharingan. As they got ready to battle Hana shouted, "Behind us!"

Only Guy, Hana, her ninken, and the two gennins turned around and they saw that they had two more visitors.

Kisame saw the new visitors, "So the zombie brothers are here are they?"

Arashi and Itachi looked behind them and saw Hidan and Kakuzu were a few trees behind them. Hidan shouted, "Oi Kisame-teme! What the hell are you doing here!"

"Leader felt the connection to the dolls severed and wondered if you'd need help, so here I am." the shark man explained. Hidan glared at him, but Kakuzu spoke first, "We need as much help as we can get. Things are getting more complicated than initially intended."

Kisame goaded the Leaf nins, "Well our job is merely a distraction team, so we can either duke it out here and turn this entire landscape into a war zone…. or you walk away now alive and we go about our business like you were never here." He grabbed his sword and aimed it at them, "Your choice."

Arashi, Itachi, Hana, Kakashi pulled out kunais and Guy pulled out some nunchucks all ready to fight.

Hidan smiled and said sadistically, "Things are gonna get wild!"

Itachi leaned close to his brother and whispered, "Sasuke-kun, you and Haru-chan will go on ahead of us and capture Naruto-kun. We'll hold these three off, but if Naruto-kun passes the boarder before you reach him, then come back. Theres nothing we can do afterward."

"Damn. It's the only way isn't it?" Sasuke muttered and he saw that Itachi nodded. Not left with any other options Sasuke slowly moved to Haru and told her what Itachi just told him. Haru looked to her brother who only gave her a look that said 'Do it'.

Haru gritted her teeth and told all of them, "Kick their asses."

Arashi looked at Guy who caught on to what he wanted. Guy tossed his nunchucks in the air and grabbed Sasuke and Haru by their shirt collars.

Itachi pointed past Kisame and said, "There!"

Guy told the kids, "Be sure to stick the landing!" And with that he tossed Sasuke and Haru clear over Kisame at great speeds that took him by surprise. Sasuke and Haru were screaming in shock at being tossed since it took them completely by surprise. Kisame saw the kids fly clear over his head, but did nothing to stop them since he needed to focus on the ninjas in front of him.

Hidan started laughing out loud, "Hahahahaha! Did you see the looks on their faces and the screams they made! That was the funniest shit I've seen in a long time! Hahahahaha!" Kakuzu wasn't amused, "It doesn't matter if they catch up to Naruto, they aren't strong enough to beat him."

Arashi looked at Kakuzu and asked, "Why are you after my brother?"

"He is a useful tool and he gets the job done. We needed information on Konoha and we got it thanks to him." Kakuzu didn't tell them about Naruto's real mission otherwise they might chase Naruto down and stop him from capturing the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Arashi turned to him fully and said, "I intend to finish what you started.

Kakuzu not frightened by the Namikaze's words simply gripped his fists hearing the knuckles crack in the process getting ready for a fight. Kakuzu stared him down and said, "Looks like we won't be making it out of this without any marks this time Hidan."

His partner held the scythe up and aimed it at Kakashi, "I got the Copycat over there. We got a little score to settle."

As Sasuke and Haru flew through the air the both reached out and grabbed the tree branches hanging on for dear life. They let go and dropped another branch beneath them and each let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. Both of them looked behind them after hearing the sounds of a battle behind them, Guy had tossed them farther than they thought since they couldn't see any of them. Sasuke grabbed Haru's shoulder and said, "Let's go. They can handle themselves, we have to catch up with Naruto."

Haru agreed and Sasuke jumped off first, she took a moment to look back to the direction of the battle then left.

* Akatsuki Hideout *

Zetsu stood in a dimly lit room talking to a shadowy figure in front of him, "Naruto-kun made his move and so did Kakuzu. I did as instructed as well and told Kisame to move out as well."

"Good Zetsu-san. So the battle will take place at the bridge that separates Fire Country from Kusagakure, interesting… I think I'll watch how this plays out personally."

Zetsu's white half smiled and asked, "Are you gonna rip the Kyuubi from the girl after the battle?"

The figure came into the light revealing an orange swirl mask that went into a single eye hole (right eye). The man wore a black outfit with bolts and pins on the shoulders and a very long scarf. His voice was deep and intellectual sounding, "We cannot seal the Kyuubi into the Gedo Mazo until the other eight biju have been sealed first. Instead of risking her gaining more power and being that much more difficult to capture. I shall rip the Kyuubi from her body and we will seal it away in another confines until that day arises."

Zetsu asked the man, "Will she survive the extraction like her mother did twelve years ago?"

"She is Kushina-chan and Minato-kun's child, she'll live. I'm sure of it, though I will have no use for her body afterward. I think I'll be benevolent and send her back to Konoha to live with the fact that not only did she fail to save her brother, but also she failed to keep hold of the beast that her family has kept away from me."

"When will you go Madara-sama?"

Madara simply told him, "Right now."

* Bridge *

Naruto stood at the bridge looking at the sign that resided just above the entrance that read, 'Linking Life and Death'. This seemed so ironic to Naruto. He looked at his surroundings and was almost as amazed as the last time he was here with Kakuzu during their travels. It was a massive gorge about two miles long making this the longest bridge made in the elemental nations.

This area had many animals of all sizes coming to feast on the smaller animals, but since the crowd of animals that arrive there are always territory issues. Kakuzu brought Naruto here when they met with Akatsuki to do some training, Naruto killed many of the large animals with just his kunai so he knew the terrain fairly well.

Naruto felt Haru's chakra draw closer and closer to him and on cue Haru and Sasuke appeared at least twenty feet away from Naruto. He slowly turned to see that Sasuke had his sharingan flaring and Haru's blue eyes had a look of betrayal and anger in them.

"Was it worth it!" Haru shouted, "Was this all worth it! You broke Hinata's heart! Your hurting your family! You betrayed your village all for what!" She looked into Naruto's eyes and saw that they still held the unemotional stare. Never has she been able to figure him out, she's never gotten into his head to figure out what he's really thinking. Naruto remained silent as he stared at the two before him, getting pissed off Haru shouted, "Your coming back to Konoha with us whether you like it or not! Your going to apologize to everyone! Especially Hinata!"

"I'm not going back." said Naruto.

Haru shouted at him, "Yes you are!"

Naruto looked at the sky and said, "You don't know what I'm in Haru. You couldn't even fathom the life I had before coming to Konoha. I was in constant danger and my only goal was to surpass the man who took care of me when he could've just chucked me to the side of the road and left me for dead." Naruto took a moment to reminisce about his time with Kakuzu, "My true self is back and now I can see the world in the light I've seen it in for years. It's either kill or be killed. I'm going to become one of the strongest ninjas that will shake the very foundation of the ninja world, but I can't accomplish my goal if I'm stuck in Konoha with weaklings like you."

Sasuke shouted at him seething with rage, "Your letting your own selfish goals take over!"

"Your one to talk Uchiha. You only wish to get stronger to kill your brother, my brother and father just because they did what was right. Your selfish goal is to avenge a clan of traitors who'd of killed fellow ninjas to become superior." Naruto's tone was stern and calm. "You may butter it up saying your doing it for family when your really doing it for yourself. We are the same you and me, the only difference is that I can admit what I truly want."

The Uchiha was glaring at Naruto now and Haru was seeing red as well. Naruto cracked his neck and said, "You two may see the light in this world, but I'm trained to see the absolute evil in it. Especially when mine is devoured by it as well. I got the training I needed from Konoha to improve my myself. Konoha is now nothing to me especially it's inhabitants and I've reached the end of my rope with you weaklings. It's time I severed my ties with Konoha, namely by defeating the two of you as a symbol of that."

Haru looked at the ground feeling tears well up in her eyes, but didn't show it, "So your telling me that it was all a lie. Your feelings for us back at home… and the affection you showed Hinata was a lie as well?"

"Yes." Naruto said instantly without hesitation. After he spoke Haru let chakra shoot out from her body at an alarming rate making Sasuke shield his eyes. Naruto stood motionless seeing the red chakra form around her dancing like fire.

Haru's eyes turned blood red with a black slit, her whisker marks thickened, her fangs and nails grew giving her a demonic appearance. Her voice had a tone of evil to it that Naruto had to admit that sent chills through his body, "Now that's a lie Naruto! I saw the real emotions you showed in the years since you've come home and they were genuine. The brief moments I saw you and Hinata together I saw a glimmer in your eyes that you didn't even notice!" More chakra pumped out of her body and she continued, "Kaa-san, tou-san, aniki… They spent all their time finding rumors about you since you were kidnapped and now that your back you break their hearts like this! I'm taking you back by force even if I have to beat you into a coma to do so!"

The chakra finished seething out and sucked back into her body, but her appearance remained.

Naruto's eyes narrowed at her and said lastly, "You can never hope to reach me. The only way to beat me… Is to kill me… Can you do it?" He took a fighting stance and waited for Haru to strike.

Using her demon like speed she almost vanished, but Naruto remained calm and avoided a punch that Haru threw at him. He grabbed her wrist and flipped her over his shoulder tossing her over the cliff. He reacted quick when he heard footsteps behind him and saw Sasuke charging at him. Naruto met him head on the two engaged in a back and forth war.

As they exchanged punches Naruto thought, 'The one place an Uchiha is vulnerable at.' Naruto slid his foot so he was even closer to Sasuke and he began to dominate. Naruto started throwing short punches and elbows at Sasuke and countered with knees to Sasuke's stomach when the Uchiha attempted to push Naruto away. Naruto was staying close to Sasuke, from the numerous battles Kakuzu had with Uchihas he taught Naruto that the Uchiha clan use momentum and counters to fight, but when your in their face throwing unsuspecting punches it leaves them vulnerable and not enough time to fight back. It was working.

Naruto tossed his left hand to grab the back of Sasuke's head and used his right hand to deliver a hook hitting the Uchiha in his jaw making him stumble back. Not giving him time to recover Naruto rushed in and ran his shoulder into Sasuke's gut and again staying close. Sasuke never fought Naruto like this so it was new to him. He didn't know how to properly defend against this. Naruto kept using his right hand to do short strikes to the left side of Sasuke's face, but more focused on his left eye closing it almost shut from the repeated strikes making his eye swell.

Sasuke was still wobbly from getting punched in his jaw. Naruto kept up his relentless assault until he tried to uppercut Sasuke, but Naruto's punch was stopped when Haru appeared and grabbed Naruto's punch and dragged him away from Sasuke and jumping off the cliff wall taking this battle in the gorge. The two fell, but Haru placed both of her feet on Naruto's stomach and kicked off of him sending him flying into the rocky wall. Haru spun in the air and landed on a large boulder, she looked up and saw Naruto pull himself up and looked down at her.

Haru taunted him, "Had enough! I can go all day like this!" Naruto dusted himself off and taunted back, "If this is the extent of how strong you've come from your training, then you'll never defeat me in a hundred- no make that two hundred years."

Watching her anger rise made Naruto's plan work even more. Haru leapt at Naruto ready to swing her right hand at him again, but Naruto read through her attack and ducked under delivering a devastating right punch to Haru's cheek sending her falling to the ground. Naruto thought at that point, 'When rage fills your actions your moves become more predictable, easy to counter, and easier to overpower.'

Haru whipped the blood coming out of her lip and jumped at Naruto again, but this time swinging wildly. Naruto like before calmly watched her movements and dodged accordingly and sent a counter strike when necessary only to watch her wobble with every direct hit to her jaw. Haru stumbled back after getting punched a few times thinking, 'He always had that pinpoint accuracy. If he hit one spot, then chances were that he'd hit that same spot continually until they drop.'

Naruto warned, "Had enough. I can go all day like this."

She was pissed and knew that that was her downfall, but she couldn't help it, her emotions were running wild and had no way to control it. Despite being in a initial form that she achieved through training with her father, but she could go higher though at a cost. Naruto wasn't amused with her strength nor with Sasuke, neither seemed to have advanced any further since the academy and he already had Haru playing into his game.

He was sure that had this been a kenjutsu battle then she'd have the upper hand, but at the moment this was a taijutsu battle and he was dominating fully. Naruto spun around when he heard Sasuke's voice, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Naruto saw a fireball of decent size coming his way.

Naruto however wasn't amused and he did a few handsigns and jutsu of his own, "Wind Style: Sonic Boom." Naruto shot a wind ball from his mouth that seemed to fluctuate. When the two elements collided the fireball got sucked in and exploded outward sending mini fireballs everywhere. Sasuke avoided the fireballs and so did Naruto and Haru.

While Naruto's back was turned Haru shouted, "Massive Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The wall of the gorge was swallowed up by a cloud of smoke and once it cleared Naruto saw an army of Haru shadow clones. Naruto had wind surround his fists and dashed at the clones.

Despite the numbers Naruto was able to knock the clones around easily by timing each of their punches correctly and successfully toss them into one another. Naruto charged a punch and hit one clone in the gut sending it flying back and knocking into other clones making them disperse. Naruto kept up this assault for awhile.

One of Haru's clones ran up behind Naruto and grabbed his leg and the rest of the clones dog piled Naruto. The real Haru was standing away from it all and shouted at Sasuke, "Do it!"

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted shooting another ball of fire toward the pile of clones. When it impacted there was a huge explosion that caused Haru to shield her eyes from the blinding light. When the explosion died down Sasuke jumped down next to Haru and waited for the smoke to clear up. Sasuke asked his teammate, "Now your positive he'd survive that?"

"I'm sure, this is Naruto we're talking about, beside my clones would've taken the most damage." Haru looked at Sasuke and saw that he was a bit winded possibly from the scuffle with Naruto. When the smoke cleared they looked in the center of the burned ground was a log. Both Haru and Sasuke shouted in shock, "Substitution Jutsu!"

From in front of them Naruto shot out of the ground holding a chain and when he pulled on it the whole chain came out of the ground and it had a loop under it that was now wrapped around Haru. Sasuke looked back and saw the other half of the chain went up the cliff side and he saw another Naruto holding onto the other end.

Naruto put the chain in his mouth allowing him to do more handsigns and said the best he could, "Wind Style." Two wind currents surrounded his fists, "Raging Winds." Naruto crossed his arms and made a slicing motion making the wind currents become two large 'x' shaped wind blades. Haru struggled to get out of the chains, but couldn't move. Sasuke attacked what he knew now was the shadow cloned Naruto, but the clone had more chakra and giving it a wider array of abilities. Even one handed the clone was successful in blocking the attacks.

Sasuke looked back and saw the attack was getting closer and without hesitating Sasuke leapt in front of Haru taking the attack. Haru watched as the attack hit Sasuke and the jutsu kept pushing Sasuke knocking him into her and the shadow clone followed by a gust explosion shooting wind currents everywhere. Naruto pulled on the chain and saw that a the links on it were missing. Tossing it aside he was happy that he put the sealing scrolls to good use. Looking at the ground he saw a 'x' shaped gash in the earth, but it wasn't too deep as he could see Sasuke and Haru laying in the center of it.

Haru recovered first and sat up looking at Sasuke, his shirt was blown off revealing a 'x' shaped gash in the center of his chest and it was bleeding badly. She took off her jacket and put it on his chest making sure to put pressure on it to try and stop the bleeding, "Oi Sasuke-teme you can't die on my now!"

Gritting his teeth from the pain caused from the jutsu it felt like it was still slicing into his body. Haru was shocked that this was happening again, during their mission to wave Sasuke was almost near death, but that last time the one they fought named Haku purposely missed Sasuke's vital organs and put him in a death like trance. This time was different, Naruto used that jutsu to horribly hurt someone.

Speaking of which Naruto landed some feet away from them watching as Haru attempted to save Sasuke, "He's going to die regardless of what you do. He'll bleed out and die soon, it's inevitable you can't stop death."

Haru shot a death glance at her brother then looked back at Sasuke. Then she remembered something, she removed her now bloody jacket and brought her arm up to her face and using her fangs she bit down on her arm drawing blood, 'I remember I did this before to heal a wound. My blood should be able to heal him enough to stop the bleeding.'

Naruto watched as Haru bit down on her arm, she held out her arm and let the blood drip down on Sasuke's gash and what amazed him was that her blood spread out over Sasuke's wound and successfully stopped the bleeding. The 'x' shaped wound was healing up at a slow rate, but it was healing. Haru was happy with the fact that Sasuke was going to live, but that was all shorted lived by itself when she saw a blade pierce through his chest.

Shocked she recognized the blade as one of Naruto's twin swords. Looking up she saw that he was surely holding onto the sword and pierced Sasuke's chest right below the wound she just healed.

Naruto used a tattoo jutsu allowing him to seal weapons onto his body rather than on paper. Unsealing the longer mamba he rushed forward and stabbed Sasuke. After he did that he let go of his sword and jumped away from Haru waiting.

Haru was in shock that Sasuke was almost healed and now once again was dying. Sasuke started coughing and she grabbed Naruto's sword and was about to pull it out from his body, but Naruto warned, "Taking that out will kill him quickly. Even with that healing ability of yours he'd die from shock if that sword is removed to quickly and if you pull it out slowly you'd just be killing him slowly as well letting the blades edge cut against his innards. This time he really will die."

Haru started to cry feeling helpless, but Sasuke reached up and lightly tapped her cheek. She looked at Sasuke and he grabbed her collar pulling her closer he whispered, "Don't worry… about me… I'll be fine, just… worry about him… Haru…"

She wiped the tears from her eyes shouted, "Baka! You gonna die!"

He grinned and said, "I'll live… trust me… You want others… to trust in you… so now I ask… that you trust… me… when I say… I'll live… Now go and fight…" Sasuke's eyes slowly closed and his breathing shortened. Haru cried more and screamed into air.

Naruto told her, "Now you understand that I've fallen to deep into darkness that the light is gone from my sight. I'm going now, but the next time we meet sister. I will come at you with the intent to hurt you even more than today. Remember that." As he walked away he was going to cross that canyon grounds to get to the other side.

Haru remained kneeling next to Sasuke crying even more… Then something snapped.

As Naruto continued walking he stopped when he felt chakra that was pure evil. He spun around and in shock he saw red chakra flying into the air and taking the shape of a fox's head. Naruto covered his eyes from the light the chakra was giving off, "What kind of demon am I up against?"

Haru came into his view with the red chakra surrounding her again. It was like last time when she went berserk and almost killed him, but something was different. The red chakra seemed to be like a second layer of skin, it made a tail, fox like ears, and the fingers of the chakra looked like nails. Naruto could see that her eyes held absolute blood lust and there was an absence of her own self. There was nothing more than a demon before him.

Haru disappeared quickly and cloths lined Naruto right below his neck sending him crashing into the massive rocks and let out a blood curdling roar. She stood on all fours watching the spot she sent Naruto crashing into. He pulled himself out coughing up blood and was bruised up from the impact, but no real life threatening injuries. At the last possible second Naruto sent a wave of wind chakra around his body like a shield, but it wasn't enough.

He stood up and thought, 'She moved fast, way faster than before. I was taken by surprise, but not again I'm ready now.'

Haru jumped the gap between her and Naruto pulling her hands back ready to shred him to pieces. Naruto watched her body movement and avoided each claw strike, but wasn't expecting the chakra hands to move independently and grab his shirt tossing him to the other half of the canyon making him collide with a bolder. Naruto shot out of the rubble and kept moving, 'I can't get close to her again! I might actually die this time!'

Despite the growing gap between him and Haru, she brought both her arms back again and shot both of the chakra arms at him attempting to grab him again. Naruto kept jumping around avoiding the chakra arms that came at him. Naruto charged his fists with the wind current again shouting, "Wind Style: Raging Winds!" Instead of sending the bladed winds in an 'x' motion again he shot them independently each hitting Haru's chakra arms stopping them.

Naruto couldn't see past the wind and dust his attack picked up, but he could see a faint glowing red light from bend the smoke which he knew was Haru. The ground cracked beneath him and he saw a chakra arm shoot out of the ground grabbing him and pulling him into the dust cloud. Once past the cloud he saw Haru had her hand cocked back and punched Naruto square in the jaw knocking him away again.

Haru roared loudly filling the whole canyon. Naruto skidded across the ground coming to a stop when he slammed into the wall. Naruto coughed up some more blood felling that his body was taking more of a beating than he's ever had, looking up he saw Haru walking on all fours toward him. Naruto stood up falling on his knees a few times as his body cried out in pain. His breathing was very quick paced trying to recover from the onslaught of attacks, but he forced himself to stand up through sheer will power. He was gonna wait for Haru to get closer before he could do anything maybe thinking that she'll snap out of her rage induced episode. He glanced down and saw that in-between him and her was the gift Hinata gave him.

He reached into his pants pocket and couldn't feel it there, 'Dammit!' Naruto ran forward to try and retrieve the gift before Haru steps on it. Running with as much speed as he could get out of his body he saw Haru start to run as well. Naruto dived forward and covered his body over the small item and suddenly his eyes shot open. He looked in his hand and saw Hinata's gift, but looking at his stomach he saw Haru's hand was sticking out of his body.

Haru finally snapped out of her rage mode when she saw that she seriously injured Naruto. She ripped her hand out of his body and saw him collapse on the ground in a pool of his own blood, her chakra started to fade, her fangs, claws, and whiskers returned normally, and her eyes went back to the blue color they once were.

Naruto puked up what remaining blood he had in him and rolled over on his back his body convulsing every other second. Haru was in a state of shock and was completely motionless. Naruto looked at his sister and struggled with his voice, "Didn't think… you… had it… in ya…" He coughed a little more blood out onto his chest. Haru lifted his head up and started crying, "Naruto! I'm sorry! I- I don't-!" She saw him attempt to put Hinata's gift back in his pocket and she helped him do that and came to a stop when she heard him speak.

Naruto grinned saying, "What are… you crying for… baka." She looked at him confused and he said, "It's not over. yet…" Using the little strength he had left he punched Haru with an uppercut knocking her back and dropping him.

She held her chin after getting hit and saw Naruto stand up. Naruto screamed in pain as black threads shot out of his body and stitching his wound closed, but before it closed his body shot out a black mass that was covered in a few strands of the same threads. She was horrified as the mass was actually a heart with huge chunk of it missing. Looking back at Naruto she saw that his wound was completely closed up and had a giant stitch mark on his chest and though she couldn't see it she knew his back was stitched up as well.

Naruto jumped away from her thinking, 'I lost too much blood. I have to end this fight now.' Naruto was surrounded by mass of blue chakra.

Haru was awestruck at Naruto's power and abilities, "N-Naruto? What are you?"

Naruto shouted at her, "I'm the monster that everyone will come to know! I was trained to be a monster and that's just what I've become! Show me that you have what it takes to win!" When she didn't do anything but sit there and stare at him Naruto became irritated, "That's all you got! Then your nothing but a waste of a ninja! If this is as far as you can get then you should just quit now while your at it! Maybe I was wrong about your abilities all these years your not the one I want to fight against at all!"

Haru jumped to her feet enraged and her red chakra surrounded her again screaming, "I'll make you eat those words!" Her appearance changed back to before, but her chakra didn't take the form of a fox this time.

Naruto held out his hand watching as his rasengan formed a dark blue color with a tint of black in the center.

Haru did the same with her right hand and used her left to make the rotation of the rasengan, hers was a light purple color shining brightly.

Both of them stared each other down and Naruto shouted again, "We are nothing but monsters! So it's only natural that we die as one!"

"We are not monsters! We are Namikazes! I won't let you call yourself that again you here me! I'm taking you back home where you belong!" Haru screamed.

After a brief stare down the two jumped at each other pushing their right hands forward that held their father's technique screaming.

**"RASENGAN!"**

_"RASENGAN!"_

The two spheres of chakra collided with each other making an imbalance and exploded making a mushroom cloud that covered about a hundred yards of the canyon floor. The ground shook as it awoke the sleeping Sasuke, he rolled turned his head and saw the smoke engulf him as well, he did his best to cover his mouth so as not to breath in any of the smoke.

The ground stopped shaking and he reached up and grabbed the black sword by the handle and slowly pulled it out inch by inch and felt the agonizing pain of the blade. He grunted a few more times and with almost all of it out he ripped it out of his body in one good pull. He began to breath erratically and thought, 'I thought he said that I'd die? What's going on here?' He rolled on his stomach and crawled along the rocky dirt toward what he believed was the center of it all. Looking from side to side he saw that the smoke was starting to clear and frantically looked around for any sign of Haru or Naruto.

Crawling a few more feet he saw a figure standing there and when the smoke cleared he saw Naruto standing over an unconscious Haru. Naruto's right arm was missing and he had a cut going diagonally on his face over the bridge of his nose. Haru was lying in the center of the crater with some blood surrounding her, but not a whole lot.

Sasuke shouted at him, "You monster! What did you do!"

Hearing a familiar voice Naruto saw Sasuke crawling over to where he was. The image of Sasuke was fading and he knew he was loosing to much blood and would lose consciousness soon.

The Uchiha saw Naruto fall to his knees and almost fell forward, but was shocked when he saw a man appear from nowhere catching Naruto and stopping him from hitting the ground. Sasuke saw the man had an orange swirl mask with a single eyehole.

This stranger started to talk in a childish tone and manner, "Oh look what Tobi found. This must be Kakuzu's apprentice." Tobi picked Naruto up and tossed him over his shoulder like he was luggage. Tobi looked down at Sasuke asking, "Are you Sasuke Uchiha by any chance?"

Sasuke was a bit shocked that this man knew his name, but refused to answer. Tobi tilted his head childishly, "That's a yes. When an Uchiha is silent after being asked a yes or no question it's almost always a yes. That must be the Kyuubi's jailer." Looking at Haru, Tobi saw Sasuke crawl over to her and kinda laid his back on her facing Tobi protecting her from this man.

"This won't do. Tobi doesn't want a useless Uchiha. Just crawl into whatever hole there is and let Tobi take the girl." Tobi inched closer and saw that Sasuke activated his sharingan staring daggers at the man, but Tobi wasn't intimidated. As he reached forward he stopped when a familiar kunai landed by him and immediately jumped away avoiding an explosion that followed.

When the dust cleared Tobi saw Arashi standing before him and the remnants of the rasengan was evident by the pattern left in the ground. Tobi examined Arashi and saw that his ninja vest was gone and his blue outfit underneath was scratched up and dirty.

Tobi playfully said, "Oh you must be-"

"Drop the charade Madara!"

Tobi stopped when Arashi shouted at him. Tobi's voice turned to a deep tone, "So the Golden Lightning of Konoha knew who I was? No doubt your father told you about me." Arashi was ready to get Naruto back from Madara through force, but another figure appeared next to Madara and it was Kakuzu. Kakuzu's cloak was gone and had some cuts on his body though nothing of real danger.

"So you are alive Uchiha." Kakuzu said looking at Madara.

Madara looked at Kakuzu asking, "How have the years treated you Kakuzu-san?"

"Don't try and get friendly with me. We still have a score to settle that's way over due." Kakuzu continued looking at the ninja that was suppose to be long dead like Hashirama. Both of them looked at Arashi making sure that he didn't try anything. Madara tossed Naruto to Kakuzu, "Your toy is almost destroyed."

Arashi saw that Kakuzu held Naruto under his right arm. Arashi glared at Kakuzu speaking in a low tone, "Hand Naruto over now!"

Madara walked in front of Kakuzu before he could speak, "We could do that Arashi-san, but you see Naruto-kun still has a mission to complete. I'm afraid that we will take our leave now." Arashi charged another rasengan and charged at Madara attempting to hit him. Madara turned his back facing Kakuzu, both of them avoided the jutsu distancing themselves from Arashi.

Madara looked at Kakuzu and a swirl affect captured Kakuzu and both he and Naruto were sucked into the right eyehole of Madara's mask until they vanished. Madara looked around Haru and Sasuke that Kakashi, Itachi, Hana and her ninken, and Guy showed up protecting the kids.

Hana and Itachi pulled out some med kits and started to fix up the two gennins hoping that their wounds weren't to serious. Arashi told Guy and Kakashi, "Madara captured Naruto we have to stop him before he escapes!" Guy and Kakashi immediately let out some chakra from their body and made a dash to attack Madara. Both of the two jounins tried to punch Madara, but both of them fazed right through him leaving everyone in attendance shock.

He taunted them saying, "You can't actually hit me." Madara looked at the spot next to him and saw the ground move up taking the form of Zetsu.

Zetsu finished forming and told Madara, "I got Hidan and Kisame back to the hideout. We await you and the other two." Madara nodded in approval and Zetsu began merging with the ground again and Madara began disappearing in the same swirl like manner as he did to Kakuzu and Naruto.

Arashi charged another rasengan and tried to hit Madara before he disappeared entirely and was too late. Madara had disappeared from the area. Arashi's rasengan disappeared and rage filled his body watching as his brother was taken away right in front of him. Hana ran up to Arashi hugging in from behind whispering, "Arashi-kun, please calm down. Please calm down." She could feel that his body began to relax, "We have to worry about getting Haru and Sasuke back to the Konoha first. We'll get Naruto-kun back but these two need our help first."

Kakashi jumped next to Haru and picked her up gently and Itachi picked up Sasuke who remained silent. Guy looked around and saw Naruto's sword was just laying there and picked it up to give it to the Hokage when he returned. They left ahead of Arashi and Hana giving them a moment alone together.

The two jounin remained rooted in place before Arashi spoke, "Hana-chan… I couldn't stop him from taking Naruto… What kind of brother am I when I can't even protect my little brother or sister from harm?"

Hana let a few tears well up, she never tries to cry in front of others though she will if it's just her and Arashi alone together, "Arashi-kun, I don't know how you feel right now. I know that you will bring Naruto-kun back home. Right now though your sister needs you now more than ever especially since this even will hurt her a lot. She needs your support."

She saw Arashi lift his arm up and used his forearm to rub his face, since she could only see the back of his head she assumed he was using his arm to wipe away his tears. Hana let go of her hug on him and grabbed his hand saying, "Let's go Arashi-kun." Arashi turned around and followed Hana back to Konoha after a failed mission to bring Naruto back to Konoha… No one could've predicted the events to soon follow.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

I'd like to thank **Michael the Archangel** for giving me some great ideas for this chapter. He's been giving me some really good ideas and I am welcome to ideas from anyone else who's willing to help! The next chapter will cover what will happen to Naruto and everyone in Konoha. I'm not sure when my next update will be so hopeflully I can get it done soon. Thanks for all the reviews and I hope you guys liked this chapter.

Also if you all like a good Naruto challenge check out my friends' profiles: **Libra of Fairy Tail** & **Rose Tiger **and check out what they got.


	22. Motivation

Chapter Twenty Two : Motivation

"Sacrificing your happiness for the happiness of the one you love, is by far, the truest type of love."

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Konoha Hospital: The Next Day *

Minato strolled down the halls of the hospital to his daughter's room to check up on her. So far she hasn't woken up since the battle at the bridge and Sasuke was sharing the room with her and he was taking a well deserved rest as well. Minato sent a messenger toad to go see Jiraiya and tell him what happened and to locate Tsunade and Shizune and demand that the two come back by his order. Jiraiya replied using another toad and said that they were making their way back to Konoha, but they wouldn't get back for awhile.

Minato stopped at the door leading to Haru/Sasuke's room. He opened the door and saw Itachi sitting by his brother's bed keeping a watchful eye over him. Itachi politely greeted the Hokage and returned to watching his brother. The Hokage looked to his daughter's bed that was across from Sasuke's and saw his wife and Hinata sitting by the bed side, he walked next to the two and pulled up a chair to sit down next to them.

Sitting silently he looked at his wife and Hinata, both had lost the light in their eyes and looked torn. He reached over and grabbed his wife's hand and felt her tighten her grip on his, "She'll wake up soon. She's tough and can fight through this."

Kushina asked him with a hoarse voice, "Why did this happen? How could Naruto do this?" Minato sighed and tighter his hand around Kushina's, "I don't know, I honestly don't know."

She looked at him and said, "Arashi said that Madara was there! He could've made Naruto do this against his will!" Minato looked away from her and looked back at his daughter, "Kushina… So far we need to wait for these two to wake up before we pass any kind of judgement."

"Your saying you believe that he wanted to do this to us?" Kushina asked. Minato shook his head and told her, "I didn't say that… I just said we need to wait this out. I put off a council meeting until these two wake up, but if they don't wake up within a few days…"

She let tears well in her eyes finishing, "Then without their testimony Naruto will be considered a traitor to Konoha and depending on the severity of his crimes he'll be either sent to prison or… death."

Hinata heard what the two said and silently stood up and told the two, "I-I'm going home now… I'll come back again later today to see Haru-chan." After she said her goodbye she left the hospital to think about the recent events. Kushina and Minato watched her leave and felt sorry for the girl, they both know about Hinata's life at her home. They both talked with Hiashi as parents about how her and Hanabi are being raised and they were happy to know that Hiashi was sorely trying his best to make his daughters happy.

The red head asked her husband, "Is there anything we can do for her?" she asked sadly.

Minato thought of a few ideas and answered, "I have an idea… I'll go see Hiashi after the council meeting to talk with him. Hopefully he'll do what's right for his daughter." Kushina leaned her head on his shoulder and let a few tears fall silently down her face.

* Konoha Park *

Hinata went to the pagoda where her and Naruto shared their first kiss together. She leaned against the railing holding the teardrop necklace in-between her index and thumb remembering when Naruto gave it to her. A single tear rolled down her right eye wanting him to come back, then she remembered what he whispered to her before he knocked her out.

"Hinata… I'm sorry, but there is something I need to do first… Trust me when I say that I'll see you again… I'm sorry Hinata-chan…"

She sat on the floor now holding the tear drop in the palm of her hand thinking, 'I do trust you Naruto-kun, but why couldn't you just stay here with us… with me?' She looked up at the sky and saw that black clouds where rolling over Konoha signaling the rainy season. She felt a comforting hand land on her shoulder and she looked up to see her sensei looking down at her with worried eyes.

Kurenai grabbed both of Hinata's hands saying, "Come on Hinata-chan. Let's get you home before it rains." Hinata didn't argue and followed her sensei back to the Hyuuga Compound.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Akatsuki Hideout: Same Time *

Kakuzu, Kisame, Hidan, and Zetsu. All of them waited for a moment and four holographic images appeared. All with their eyes visible.

The leader with the ringed eyes spoke first, "The capture of the Kyuubi was a failure I assume."

Kakuzu told him, "It was. There was complications with the mission. He tried his best, but in the process he gained useful info on Konoha." Zetsu also added, "Despite the capture of the jinchuriki being a failure now that we know a decent layout of Konoha it'd be easy to send him in when he's had better training to bring her in."

One of the other images with normal black colored eyes spoke in a deep voice, "So are we sending the boy in again to capture the Kyuubi?"

That question remained unanswered for awhile before the leader slammed his hand on the ground and said calmly, "Summoning Jutsu." a very small puff of smoke appeared revealing a red ring that had the symbol for 'Vermillion' on it. "Give that to Naruto. I found out that our plans will be on the back burner for three years. Complications have surfaced and needs to be handled accordingly. Naruto will be paired up with Kisame when I feel it necessary until then he will receive the necessary training to make him strong enough to capture the Kyuubi jailer."

One of the holograms with a visible blue eye shouted, "You mean we all are gonna train the kid!"

Hidan even voiced his outrage, "That's not our business to train that kid! Let Kakuzu teach him like he's been doing!"

"No. The only ones who will train him are Kakuzu and Kisame themselves. The rest of you will have no say in how he is trained and since Naruto will be accompanying Kakuzu and Hidan until I see fit." Pain told them.

Kakuzu butted in before his partner could speak, "We'll do it."

Kisame also spoke, "I got no problems with teaching the gaki a little bit about how a real swordsman fights. It could be fun to teach again."

Pain added his final words, "We have the upper hand against Konoha right now. Depending on how they see this recent event could mean that we will still have the upper hand or not. We'll just have to wait and see. Until then gain as much knowledge of the five nations as possible and get as much money we can in order to complete our mission. Now move out."

Afterward the four holograms disappeared. Kisame told his companions, "Well I'll take my leave. Contact me whenever you want me to take over the gaki's training Kakuzu." Kisame strolled off deeper into the hideout. Hidan grunted and grumbled to himself about how he had to train Naruto as well leaving without saying a word to anyone.

Kakuzu picked up the ring that Pain summoned and put it in his pocket. Zetsu told Kakuzu, "Madara wants to speak with you and Naruto when he awakens. He says he can give Naruto-kun the tool to help defeat the Kyuubi jailer."

"Tell Madara that if he wants to talk with Naruto that he'll have to speak with me first." Kakuzu said firmly, "I don't trust that Uchiha."

Zetsu gave Kakuzu his trademark grin and melded with the ground to go relay the message to Madara. After he left Kakuzu walked off into the hideout and walking into one of the rooms. Inside was Naruto fast asleep bandaged and a cloth covered the right side of his body. Kakuzu took a seat by Naruto's bed and said to himself, "Now that you'll become a full fledged member in a matter of three years I have to make sure that you are even more stronger than you are now. Far more stronger."

The nuke nin relaxed in his seat and closed his eyes falling asleep.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Konoha: Meeting Room: Next Day *

Sitting in the room was the Hokage and all the clan heads in Konoha that included Itachi along with higher up ninjas that included Jiraiya, Danzo, Homura, Koharu and another veteran ninja named Shikakami. They also included Ibiki into the meeting as well since he was Naruto's sensei. They all sat at a round table waiting for the meeting to start.

When no one started to talk Danzo started, "Well then what shall we do about this current predicament we find ourselves in?"

Shikaku spoke after, "From all we know is that Naruto Namikaze attacked Hinata Hyuuga, Sasuke Uchiha, and Haru Namikaze and seriously wounded Sasuke and Haru. As far as the attack not he village goes we have no way of knowing if he told them how to enter the village or if they winged it."

Shikakami was Shikaku's father and was a retired ninja, but decided to get involved in this topic. The old ninja had the standard jounin attire, his hairstyle was similar to his son and grandson's, but was completely gray, he had a few wrinkles and a small scar on his chin. Despite not being on the roster of active ninjas his voice and opinions were highly regarded. When he spoke everyone stopped to look at him, "The information we've been given was that both the gennins are unconscious, so we have to hints as to what happened at the bridge. As for our current predicament we'll have to go by the events that we are aware of."

Everyone had to agree with the man. Homura adjusted his glasses asking, "So what do we know so far about Naruto?"

Minato had no choice but to speak up as the Hokage, "From what we know from what Sakura Haruno told us was that Naruto had an alternate mission. It's still unclear as to what that mission is, but I intend to find out." Jiraiya looked at the blonde and gritted his teeth, he would speak soon to tell them all what he's learned, but wanted to wait.

The Aburame clan head asked, "This Kakuzu fellow and his accomplice showed up in the village and Blood Mist's former swordsman Kisame Hoshigaki appeared later. What do we know that these three have in common?"

Minato told them all, "I picked up on the info of Kakuzu's teammate and from the Bingo Book I found that his name is Hidan a former ninja from the former ninja village Yugakure. They refused however to detail his abilities in the Book wanting to keep it secret, but deemed him an S-Classed criminal. Takigakure also decided it was time to put Kakuzu in the book as well labeling him an S-Classed criminal as well."

Ibiki decided to voice, "I encountered Kisame a long time ago and he slaughtered his own companions. Later years showed that he assassinated a daimyo and many others and given him the rank of S-Class. It seems that they are a collection of criminals."

Itachi told them, "All three also had the same attire of a black cloak with red clouds on them. They possibly belong to an organization."

"What kind of organization gathers criminals?" Tsume voiced. Choza said out loud, "An organization of high classed criminals is something that's unheard of, but they couldn't have just come together on their own."

Hiashi finished, "He's right, which means there has to be a leader."

Itachi cut in, "There is." Everyone looked at Itachi not to cut in wanting to hear him talk, "Kisame spoke of a 'Leader' and 'jobs' which means there is one and that he's giving them assignments. This on top of the fact that Madara made an appearance as well means either he's behind this or he's possibly working for this leader. There was also a man with a venues flytrap body and he used the words 'we' which could indicate more criminals."

"So this is a collection of criminals with a leader who we yet to identify or this group." said Inoichi.

Jiraiya finally decided to speak, "They are called Akatsuki."

Everyone turned their gazes to Jiraiya seeing that he was leaned up against the wall, "Akatsuki was an organization that I'm afraid to say gathers high ranked criminals from other villages and exchange information with each other for infiltration. Possibly how Kakuzu and Hidan came to Konoha was because one of it's members used to be Orochimaru."

The room became deathly quiet as they absorbed the information. Koharu said, "That still doesn't explain their goal. I doubt they just exchange information on villages with each other rather than sell it to other villages, what is their real goal Jiraiya or you don't know what it is?"

"I do know… To be honest it's not pretty." said Jiraiya. He closed his eyes and said, "They were after the Kyuubi inside of Haru." The council members became deathly still.

Shikakami was calm and came to a conclusion based off of all the information they gathered, "So the Akatsuki is a group that wishes to capture the Kyuubi. I highly doubt that that's all they want. They are after all nine."

Hiashi asked the elder, "What makes you think that? We have no evidence of this."

"Don't be conceded boy. I was a gennin when Hashirama started to split up the biju to the other nations, it'd be ridiculous if they went for one beast. You don't have to take this old man's words to heart, but the idea that an organization of high ranked criminals would be after a single objective is just foolish." Shikakami said sternly.

Shikaku agreed with his father, "He's right. A group of dangerous criminals must have a greater goal in mind."

Murmurs began amongst the ninjas in the room and Danzo slammed his fist on the table to stop the talk, "We must strike them before they become a bigger threat. Also we must put Naruto Namikaze in the Bingo Book."

Jiraiya raised his hands saying, "Now hang on shouldn't we wait until we gather more information on what he could know from Haru and Sasuke's testimony?"

Shikakami told Jiraiya, "Naruto Namikaze holds with him valuable information on Konoha despite how insignificant it may seem to others. Danzo is right with what the boy is we must list him as a criminal."

Most of the clan heads looked at Minato and saw his fist was gripping a piece of paper trying to control his rage. Homura asked, "What rank do you think is necessary enough to give him according to his offenses?"

Shikamaru and Shikakami locked gazes with each other and wordlessly came to an agreement. Shikakami stood up and told everyone, "That of an A-Ranked criminal. The info on this village is valuable along with the training he's had, thereby a kill on sight is issued." He turned to leave not waiting for the Hokage to dismiss him, "I'm going now. I have a feeling that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg on this one." With that he left the room.

Danzo looked at Minato and told the young kage, "To think a child like that was underneath your nose the whole time. Your loosing your edge Minato."

Tsume stood up and defended her friend, "Oi watch your tongue teme!" Shibi grabbed Tsume's arm asking her to calm herself and to sit back down to which she did, but never taking her eyes off of Danzo.

"He wasn't just under the Hokage's nose, but yours as well Danzo." said Shikaku, "You had that boy Sai in the same class with him at the academy and he didn't report anything back to you I'm guessing was evidence of betrayal since you did nothing before this incident."

Danzo didn't respond to Shikaku's words. Koharu said, "It's already done. Naruto Namikaze will have an A-Rank to his bounty with a kill on sight issued, this must be done. We cannot look weak now in these times."

Everyone had no choice but to agree ultimately giving the okay that their children's friend for years was now a criminal and that it was okay to kill him. Minato's close friends looked to him wondering what he'd do or say. Jiraiya walked behind Minato and placed a hand on his shoulder asking him, "Are you okay with the verdict?"

Minato took a good inhale of air and calmly answered, "As a father I'm not… in fact I despise this very idea of putting a kill on sight for my son…" He got out of his seat and telling them, "This meeting is over… Also Hiashi mind if you accompany me to my office? I wish to ask you something…" With nothing else to say he walked out of the room and was followed by Hiashi and Jiraiya out of the room.

Shikaku spoke out loud, "Well let's go. What's done is done and Naruto Namikaze is hereby a A-Ranked criminal. Nothing else is left to discuss until the gennins wake up." Calling the meeting to a close everyone just walked out silently to tell their children, friends, and Naruto's teammates that he was now a wanted criminal.

* Hokage Office *

Minato walked into his office followed by Hiashi and Jiraiya. The toad sannin closed the door and made sure it was locked and stayed close by for any eavesdroppers. Minato walked behind his desk and leaned back into it rubbing his temples trying to calm a headache.

"Your sure you want to let that verdict pass?" asked Hiashi.

Minato looked at Hiashi who used to be one of his longtime rivals back when he was younger, "Nothing I can do, as kage I must do what's right by my village. As a father though I cannot condone this… If I spoke out then I'd be showing I want to protect him from even the village and by that my title as kage would be in danger and I'd do more harm than good. With my influence at least I know that his friends will bring him back alive and when that happens I'll know what to do."

Not liking it himself, but Hiashi wasn't really one to talk with how he treated Hinata before her sudden burst of confidence making him proud of her. He calmly crossed his arms, "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Minato reached into his drawer and pulled out a piece of paper and slid it over to Hiashi. The clan head grabbed the paper and read through it silently and his eyes widened in shock, "T-This is."

"It's your choice Hiashi. I think that given this current event that things will only go down a rougher path, I'm dead set on this and so is my wife. I'm sure that Hinata will like the idea." Minato tried to smile.

Hiashi looked it over a few more times and summarized, "What your asking is that Hinata be allowed to live with you and your family at the mansion, but still retain the name of Hyuuga?"

Minato responded, "I'm positive that if she stays with us we can advance her training. As Hokage I cannot oversee her training, but my wife can."

The room was silent as Hiashi took a moment to think about all of this. He asked Minato, "Is this for her sake or your family's?"

"Both. You know you want to see Hinata's smile again as much as we want our son back in Konoha."

Hearing his words Hiashi couldn't say no to this. He reached for a pen off of Minato's desk and signed his name on it and slid it to Minato who also signed it. Minato asked him, "I'll ask Kushina to come by and get her. Most likely tonight."

"I'll have all her things ready by then and I'll tell her when I get home." Hiashi said and politely bowed, "If you'll excuse me." Taking his leave from the office.

Jiraiya moved out of the way so he could leave and again closed and locked it. Jiraiya walked up to Minato's desk and said, "We have no way of finding him. Because of the toad contract we can't ask them, they'll refuse to tell us as the other summoners business is their business and they will not get involved in matters such as this."

"Yeah, besides Gamakichi would never betray Naruto's trust."

The two were silent for awhile and Jiraiya asked him, "What of Haru's training. I don't think Akatsuki would just keep Naruto around as the mascot, they'll train him and you know as well as I do that when he trains, he trains to perfect himself."

"Haru won't kill Naruto under any circumstances, neither will Hinata nor Arashi. They'll bring him alive if they need to and all three will train so that they can do just that." the blonde kage said confidently.

Jiraiya didn't like giving his former student bad questions, but sometimes they were needed to ask, "And what if Naruto doesn't feel the same way they do? What if he intends to kill them when he sees them?"

Minato and Jiraiya knew each other very well. Jiraiya had no kids of his own but saw Minato as his own and Minato's parents died when he was very young and looked to Jiraiya as a father figure, so the two would get into sometimes heated debates but it never escalated more than that. The two just had a lot of respect for one another than to put the other down. "I just know Naruto won't kill them. I found something in Naruto's room that leads me to believe that something else is afoot and Hinata is the key to that."

The sage sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Your gambling the lives of others... If anyone can pull a single 'Ace of Spades' card out of a deck of two hundred… it's you. Anything you want me to do?" Jiraiya half expected him to ask to look for information on Naruto or Kakuzu's whereabouts, but he was surprised.

"Look into more information about our old friend Orochimaru. My leaf nins are to go to Iwa for the exams soon and then I am to leave shortly after that. In my absence from the village I am appointing you as the acting Hokage again until I come back." Minato told him.

Jiraiya followed orders and went to the window to leave, but stopped asking, "May I talk to Haru myself before I leave? I want to ask her about Naruto and what she thinks."

"Go ahead. I know your intentions, but try not to argue with her. She needs her rest and needs to recover."

The sage smiled and said, "Will do kid." and left. Minato could do nothing more than to pull out some papers that had the title, 'Nuke-Nin'. He grabbed a pen and wrote Naruto's name on it, his age, height, weight, affiliations, accomplishments, rank, etc… The rest all he needed to do was send the paper to his secretary and she'll add the picture and send it into circulation. All it needed was his approval, which he gave. Minato slowly wrote his name and title at the bottom. After signing it he left it there on his desk knowing his secretary would come into his office to collect documents later in the day.

Not wanting to be in his office anymore he decided to go tell his family what just transpired today.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Akatsuki Hideout *

Naruto's eyes slowly opened and kept them halfway since the light from the room was too bright and he needed to adjust to it. He unconsciously lifted his right arm up to block the light and suddenly realized that he has a right arm again. Forcing himself to sit up he examined his arm and saw that it was a few shades lighter than the rest of his arm. Inspecting it some more he saw that this new arm stopped up to his bicep and Naruto already knew how this happened after seeing some evidence of stitch marks where the two meet.

The sounds of hospital machines caught his attention seeing the tube in his chest was connected to an I.V. machine. He yanked it out and calmly got out of his bed, he didn't see anyone else in this small room and decided it was time to leave. Pulling a few wires that were attached to his body off and hearing the monitor flat-line he saw no other reason to remain in that room.

He still had on the same clothes he was wearing when he fought Sasuke and Haru. Just the thought of his twin alone made the ninja wonder what happened to her after he passed out, walking mindlessly through the hallways he had no idea where he was at exactly the only thing he did know that he was at the Akatsuki base since the red cloud banners were hanging on the walls.

Coming to a sudden halt when he saw a lump form on the ground in front of him. It was a visible head of Zetsu both his white and black face, "Naruto-kun it's good to see that your still with the land of the living."

"Why can't I seem to get rid of you?" Naruto retorted.

"Awwww don't say that Naruto-kun. Kakuzu is waiting for you, go down this hallway and continue down it till you reach the stairs. Go down and you'll see him waiting for you." After instructing him Zetsu left disappearing back into the ground. Naruto calmly started to go to where Kakuzu was waiting for him. Following the directions he made it to where Kakuzu was and he could see the man waiting downstairs adorned in his Akatsuki cloak again. For some reason Naruto started to sweat, it wasn't hot in the building, but for some odd reason it just started.

Kakuzu sensed Naruto's presence, "Your up."

Naruto flinched a little and walked down the steps to him, "Just now got up. I can see that you are the one that fixed me up." Kakuzu didn't look at Naruto and was still looking at what looked to be the front door of this massive building. Naruto did see that Kakuzu moved his hand signaling him to come closer to which he obeyed. He stopped till he was a few feet away from him looking up at him, Naruto often wondered if that's how it'll be… would he always be looking up to this man like this.

Kakuzu finally turned to look at him and his gaze narrowed at the boy, "One of your hearts died am I right?"

His fists shook as he tried to calm himself, "Yes. I let my guard down for a split second and it happened, but I assure you that I won't let that happen again."

"But you let your spare get destroyed and not your original… Why?" Kakuzu's voice held a tone of demand in it which made the little Namikaze that much more wary of choosing his words.

Naruto answered, "Because it's a part of me and I'll chose how to use it and when it's usefulness has come to an end then I will discard it." Naruto's voice held a defiant tone that Kakuzu wasn't even aware of. He eyed the boy seeing yet another part of him that was foreign. Before they could speak more the sound of the doors opening caught their attention.

Kakuzu motioned for Naruto to stand closer and he did. When the doors opened entirely Naruto saw an Akatsuki member walk in that he hasn't seen in his years of being with them. Kakuzu glared at the ninja and said aloud, "Madara-teme." Naruto looked from Kakuzu to this Madara man and wondered what relationship these two have with one another.

Madara still had the orange swirl mask, but now he had on an Akatsuki cloak as well. He stopped in front of the two and asked Kakuzu, "Did you tell him yet?" Kakuzu shook his head signaling 'no'. The two talked earlier in the day and now they needed to ask Naruto a few questions about his involvement in this organization.

Naruto was carefully watching both men and asked, "Tell me what?"

Madara looked at Naruto asking, "Your intention was never to capture the Nine-Tails jinchuriki am I right?" Naruto gritted his teeth wondering how this man came to that conclusion, "I saw your fight Naruto-kun. You were testing her skills and you were about to walk away to leave her with a 'dying' Uchiha." Naruto gulped a bit louder than he intended.

"However you were overpowered by the Nine-Tails as I seen in your battle. Indicating that you were not yet ready to fight your sister should she use it's power again." Madara crossed his arms and tilted his head like he was thinking, "I still want you to capture her since you have the upper hand still in the battle. However with your current level you'll be overwhelmed again. Therefore I have a solution that could give you the edge over your twin on top of the training you'll receive."

Naruto was intrigued by this asking, "What kind of edge?"

Madara pointed to his eye hole and said, "I'll give you a sharingan. How does that sound?" Naruto immediately answered, "No…"

Looking like he was disappointed with the answer he questioned his answer, "Why not? The power of the sharingan will let you learn jutsu at an alarming rate and you'll be able to predict her movem-"

"That's not how I want to be a ninja… I know of the sharingan's abilities and with that kind of power I don't want to be known like Kakashi Hatake. If that's all then I'll just stick to the training that I am to receive." Naruto told the man. His voice never wavered nor did his resolve on using the dojutsu that made a clan famous.

Kakuzu looked at Naruto questioning his motives as well with power like that would make him a danger to anyone including him. Madara let out an amused chuckle at Naruto's reasons and wouldn't try to change the boy's mind. Naruto made to leave back up the stairs, but stopped when he got to them humorously saying, "Now if you offered me the byakugan… then we could talk more."

Kakuzu and Madara both thought, 'The byakugan? Why that dojutsu?' Madara's body vanished and he reappeared in front of Naruto asking, "If I got you the byakugan, then what would you do?"

Naruto was shocked that he appeared out of nowhere, but regained himself, "The ability to see in a full 360˚ is an ability that could greatly help me improve myself on a fair level and increase my chances of capturing the Kyuubi. I'm dead set on this and I won't back down on it. Like I said, if you get me the byakugan then we'll talk."

"You got balls kid I'll give you that. To speak and demand in that kind of tone to me is quite dangerous."

Naruto glared at the man and he could only guess that he was doing the same. Madara simply told the two, "Fine. I'll get you a byakugan eye, expect the surgery to come very soon. Finding a Hyuuga without the Caged Bird Seal is rare, but I can get it done. I'll be back." Madara then disappeared yet again and Naruto let out a breath that he'd been holding after he spoke.

At the bottom of the stairs Kakuzu rolled his sleeve back down and withdrew his thread tendrils back into his body as soon as Madara's presence vanished. He calmly walked up to Naruto and held out a ring to him, "This is yours… Keep it with you at all times… I don't see you as one of us yet, but in time you'll be like us. Your training will start tomorrow morning. Clean yourself up, rest, eat, then be prepared." After Naruto grabbed the ring Kakuzu walked up the stairs to head deeper into the building.

Naruto looked at the ring and thought, 'What have I gotten myself into?' Naruto decided that he'd explore the place a little bit and pick one of the many rooms he passed on his way out of the clinic room he was in. He summoned out ten clones and had them run into the halls checking the rooms for one he'd like, after a ten minutes he dispelled the clones and headed down a path one of his clones went down. Coming to 'his' room he opened the door and saw a kingsized bed, two nightstands, a dresser, and another door to what he assumed was the bathroom. Looking at the room he said, "Like all the other rooms and the hallways… Why are there no windows?"

That struck him as odd, the only source of light was the lightbulbs down the hallways and the lamps in the rooms, but other than that there was no sign of sunlight. Thinking it best to find out later he kicked off his sandals and dug into his back pocket first and pulled out the ripped picture he took from his room back in Konoha. Looking at the photo it was of Hinata, he ripped the picture and kept the half that had only Hinata. Staring intently at the photo he wondered if she hated him yet or if his family hated what he's done, but there was no turning back now after what he's done.

He opened the nightstand drawer and put Hinata's picture in there and closed it. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the gift Hinata gave him, the wrapping paper was a bit ripped and wrinkled from when he fought, but he could tell that the gift was in good condition. He ripped the wrapping paper off and let it fall to the ground and saw that it was a green toad wallet and stuffed inside the mouth was paper balls to make it look fat. A tag was attached to one of the feet that read 'Gama-chan' and he recognized it as Hinata's handwriting. Taking out the paper ball and tossing it to the ground he placed the wallet on his nightstand and decided it was time to do as Kakuzu instructed.

He walked to the bathroom to clean up then rest, tomorrow was going to be a big day.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Team Kai *

Ibiki and his two remaining students sat in the ANBU headquarters in a small room. Shi and Takako were just told of what happened with Naruto and how he's a traitor to Konoha. The interrogator folded his arms across his chest and said, "That's how it is. Naruto Namikaze is an A-Rank criminal with a kill on sight ordered for him."

Shi didn't look surprised at all, but was a bit depressed by the news. Takako was pretty much the same and her fists gripped till they turned white. Ibiki saw these emotions and asked, "I'd like to know how you two plan on handling him when and if you see him in the outside world."

Takako stood up and shouted, "He's a criminal and a traitor to his village and shall be dealt as one! He made his choice!" Ibiki could see the mixed emotions in her face, but she held onto her pride as a kunoichi and was going to act as one. He was proud that she wasn't trying to act cool by saying unnecessary things, but knew that she was thinking of them. He looked at Shi and asked, "What about you?"

The monk-nin leaned back in his seat closing his eyes, "He was our teammate and comrade… However the keyword in there is 'was'. I'll handle Naruto the same way I do any enemy that crosses my path." Ibiki could hear the now emotionless tone in his voice. He put both hands in his pockets and said, "Team Kai will be disbanded from here on out. I feel that putting someone else on this team will only slow us down, so instead you two will undergo ANBU training. I'm going to request from the Hokage that should information be found on Naruto that the three of us be allowed to act first. How does that sound?"

Takako looked away and grunted the words, "What ever." and Shi only nodded in response.

"Good, you two start training in two months. Be prepared for this and consider this an honor." Nothing else to say to them he walked off leaving them in the room.

Takako punched at the wall making it crack a little. Shi glanced at her and asked his friend, "Can you really do it? Can you really kill him?"

She spun around and shouted, "And what about you!" Shi didn't raise his voice back and only spoke calmly, "I meant it. The monks I lived with see life as being recycled, if he dies then his whole being will be used for the rest of the world and I can live with that."

The room remained silent and he finally got up to leave, but parted some words to her, "I'm sure we'll find a solution when we see him, but first let's worry about ourselves first. He was always strong… so we just need to get stronger." He then left the room. Takako more irritated decided that it was for the best that they try and kill him before he possibly kills them.

* Dusk: Konoha Hospital *

Kushina, Arashi, and Hana sat in Haru/Sasuke's room listening as the rain poured outside. Minato came into the room and sat next to his wife and told all three of them the verdict the council passed about Naruto, shocked and angered was not the right words to describe how Kushina and Arashi felt. Minato told them that he wanted Hinata to live with them and for Kushina to train her alongside Haru.

"I'll do it for Hinata and I'm sure Haru will be thrilled that Hinata will be living with us." Kushina tried to say happily. Minato tried to smile and looked to his oldest boy who hasn't smiled since all this unfolded, "Son? You okay?"

When Arashi didn't answer Hana grabbed his hand and gripped it letting him know that she was there for him. Arashi looked at his dad, "I'm okay, just that… I haven't done much with Naruto's situation even before he left the village. I swore I'd bring him back and yet he came back home of his own accord and even though I can say I'll bring him back this time… I doubt that I can."

Kushina rubbed her son's shoulder smiling, "Your his brother. He doesn't blame you for what happened about him being kidnapped nor do we, stop doing the blaming when this was something he did of his own accord."

"Only thing I know for sure about Naruto is that when I see him in the future I'll have to fight him. I doubt he'll just come back willingly." Arashi told his parents.

The thought of her children fighting each other like this made her heart ache and the more she looked at Haru the idea that Naruto went all out to fight against her and put her in this state didn't help. Minato could sense the tension in the air and he needed to say something, "Naruto will get stronger as time passes and if any of you are to bring him back home, then we will all have to get stronger. I have faith in my children that things will turn out okay in the end. Arashi-kun, whatever you do when you see Naruto in the future I know you'll do what needs to be done."

Arashi let out a sigh of worry over this whole incident. Then the sudden sound of a yawn caught their attention, looking at Haru she leaned up and rubbed her eyes. Kushina rushed forward and hugged her daughter catching the young kunoichi by surprise.

"Ah! Kaa-san!" Haru cried. Kushina let go and apologized, "Oh sorry. It's just that I'm so relieved that your okay." Kushina wiped some relieved tears from her eyes. Haru rubbed her right arm feeling a strain there, sudden realization hit her that she was in the presence of her family. Looking around anxiously she asked, "Where's Naruto!"

Haru was greeted with sad eyes knowing the answer to her question. She looked down at her hands and said, "I failed didn't I?"

Minato sat on his daughter's bed and hugged her gently, "There was nothing else you could do… Naruto was always a strong boy and for you to fight him on that level makes me proud." Minato looked down at his daughter and saw that her eyes started to tear up and she was wiping them away trying to make sure no one seen them.

She sadly said, "I failed not only to bring Naruto-nii back… but I also let Sasuke-kun die as well." Her eyes drifted to her father and saw that he was smiling, "Tou-san that's not something to be happy about!" she shouted and looked to her mother who was smiling as well and so was Arashi and Hana. She was confused why was everyone happy that Sasuke was dead? Before she could ask anything else a familiar voice broke her from her confused state.

"I won't die that easily Haru-chan."

Haru looked behind her father to another hospital bed and saw Sasuke was sitting up eating some of the hospital food. He had an arrogant smirk on, "So when did I become 'Sasuke-kun'?"

This caused Haru to become both embarrassed and irritated with his smug attitude, "I thought you died teme! Now that I think about it our team would be better if we replaced you!"

Sasuke shouted back at her, "You'd be lost if I wasn't there to bail you out ya banshee!"

The two glared lighting at one another, but a booming voice stopped both of them.

"This is a hospital so there is no shouting!"

Everyone in the room looked to the door and saw a two women standing there. Kushina groaned inwardly and thought, 'Your the one that should know that and yet you do the same.'

The first was a young woman in her thirties with a violent rhombus on her forehead. Fair skin, brown eyes, long blonde hair tied into two ponytails and her hair parted in the front. She was wearing a grass-green robe, a kimono style blouse, a dark bluish-grey obi that matches her trousers showing a bit of her sizable bust. Open-toed sandals with low heels and nail polish and a stone necklace hanging from her neck resting between her breasts.

The second woman looked to be a bit younger, she had shoulder length dark hair with bangs and dark eyes. She was wearing a long blueish-black kimono with white trimmings except for the sleeves held closed by a white obi. She wears the same footwear like the first woman. She was holding a small pig that had a beaded necklace on and a red vest.

Haru looked at the first woman and noticed her bust size and thought, 'Those things are huge!'

Kushina didn't look all to happy to see the woman and greeted the two, "Hello Tsunade-sama, Shizune-chan."

Tsunade was the blonde woman who greeted Kushina back, "H-Hello Kushina-chan." Shizune sensed the tension between the two and broke in greeting Kushina happily, "Hey Kushina-chan. It's been to long, we should catch up sometime."

Minato stood up and said, "It's good to see you Tsunade-oba. The hospital has been barely getting by the skin of it's teeth."

Tsunade didn't really answer and instead walked up to Sasuke and looked at his chart, "Looks like you can be out of here tomorrow, but you can't do any training for a week at least." Sasuke stared at the woman not liking the news he was just given. Tsunade walked over to Haru looking at her chart to diagnose her as well, "You seem in better health despite the damage your body took, but your training will also be put on hold for a week."

Haru was in the same as Sasuke not liking the news of no training. She shouted, "That's not acceptable! I have to get stronger to bring my brother back home! Anyway who are you and where is Sensei Hari who usually treats me!" Arashi lightly waked his sister upside her head. She looked at him glaring at him.

Arashi told her, "Sensei Hari is busy Haru and besides Tsunade here is the one who taught Hari all she knows about being a medic." Haru looked from her brother to Tsunade looking a bit surprised.

Minato added, "She was a teammate of Jiraiya-sensei and she is also one of the Legendary Sannin like him as well." Haru pointed at Tsunade who had a grin of pride that this girl would understand how strong she was.

Haru calmed down and asked, "So this means that she is an old hag?" A tick mark appeared on Tsunade's head and Shizune immediately grabbed Tsunade hearing her shout, "Who the hell you calling an 'old hag' you little shrimp!"

Not to show that she was afraid Haru got in Tsunade's face and shouted, "Well you gotta be freaking old if you were Ero-Sennin's teammate! You must be using a Transformation Jutsu huh!"

The two blondes continued to glare at each other until Minato voiced himself, "Haru-chan don't be disrespectful to Tsunade-oba after she came to heal you personally."

That didn't help as the two were looking like they were gonna kill each other. Kushina stood up and walked in-between the two and said, "Haru-chan your going to be an adult soon so you should act as one and Tsunade-sama you should know better." Both Haru and Tsunade back down still staring at the other.

Tsunade crossed her arms and said, "Anyway by my order as your overseeing doctor neither of you two can do much of any kind of physical activity for a week otherwise you won't heal correctly." Before either Sasuke or Haru could speak Minato cut in, "And as Hokage I'll be putting them on the inactive list until the doctor says otherwise." Minato looked at his daughter and watched as she forced a submission and agreed. He looked to Sasuke who looked at him with a heated stare though ultimately agreed.

The room becoming a little less bearable Arashi stands up ushering Hana to follow him telling his family, "I'm going home to get a jump start on training. At my current level I don't think I'm exactly prepared to fight Kakuzu, I'll see you guys at home." His mother and father gave him a smile and watched him walk over to Haru patting the girl on her head, "You get better okay? We'll start your training real soon."

Haru looked down at her hands and said, "Arigatou aniki."

Tsunade clapped her hands together and said, "Well time for everyone to go. These two will need their rest, so everyone out." she tried not to sound rude, but those were the hospital rules. Kushina and Minato walked over to their daughter and both hugged her and gave her a kiss on her cheeks, both of them telling her that everything will work out in the end. As they walked out of the room Kushina spared one last glance at her daughter and gave her a heart warming smile. Minato poked his head in one last time telling both of the gennins, "Tomorrow once your able to I'm gonna need the both of you to come into my office to tell me exactly what happened."

Both the gennins agreed and watched as he closed the door. Once they were all gone, Sasuke laid down in his bed and pulled the covers over his shoulders saying, "I'm getting some sleep and so should you." Surprisingly Haru didn't argue back and laid back down as well, she shut her eyes to go to sleep but a tapping sound caught her attention. It sounded like someone was tapping on a window so she instinctively looked at the window of their room and saw Jiraiya right outside.

Haru pushed the blankets off of her and went to the window opening it up she saw the sage was sitting atop a giant toad. Sasuke heard the window open and got up to see Haru opening the window for the Toad Sage.

Jiraiya put on a happy smile and said, "So your up gaki. Good to see that you didn't die on us." Haru glared at him and sat back on her bed asking in a irritated tone, "What do you want Ero-Sennin?"

She saw that he dropped his happy smile quickly, he looked more serious than she's ever seen him. Jiraiya sat in one of the chairs and asked, "So you two let Naruto get away huhs?"

Haru shouted at him, "WE DIDN'T! HE WAS TO DAMN STRONG!"

Jiraiya shook his head not raising his voice at the girl, "That so? He was strong enough to beat two ninjas like yourselves that easily?"

Venom was now lacing her voice, "What the hell is that suppose to mean!"

"It means that Naruto was able to overpower the both of you to the point where you both passed out. Now I don't know exactly what happened in the battle, but you didn't exactly accomplish what you set out to do." said Jiraiya. Haru gipped the sheets beneath where she sat gritting her teeth until she thought they would crack.

Jiraiya crossed his arms saying, "How was it that an Uchiha who unlocked his sharingan be it incomplete and a jinchuriki with an extraordinary beast sealed inside of her failed to bring back a single kid?" When neither of them answered Jiraiya rubbed the bridge of his nose, "The answer is simple. I don't think either of you want to be real ninjas, it's evident that Naruto did which is why he was clearly the stronger in that battle. From what Arashi said was that he sensed you using the Kyuubi's power and yet we are and we're one kid short."

Sasuke grabbed a cup that was on the nightstand by his bed and threw it at the sannin, but Jiraiya caught it when he even had his eyes closed, "How dare you say we aren't real ninjas!" Sasuke's voice was low and threatening.

Placing the cup on the windowsill the white haired ninja told them, "Just because you have headbands around your heads doesn't make you a ninja. Naruto was more of a ninja before even coming to this village and he didn't need a headband to prove it." Those words stung the two gennin's pride. He stood up and said, "If Naruto wanted you two dead then you would've been dead. Now I don't know what his plans are or if there was a plan on his part or that he just miscalculated where your vitals are, but the fact of the matter is that you lost. Plain and simple."

The two looked down not wanting to hear anymore. Jiraiya sighed and said, "Which means that your training will have to be kicked up to the next level." The two looked up at Jiraiya, "I think it best that Team 7 be put on temporary hold after the upcoming Chunnin Exams so that your training can be kicked up a notch. It's our fault when I think about it. We were training you like children, but no more." He walked over to Haru and grabbed her shirt lifting her off the bed till she was eye level with him, "Haru are you gonna give up?"

Haru took a long look into Jiraiya's eyes and said proudly, "That thought never occurred to me. I'm gonna bring Naruto back home where he belongs."

Jiraiya smiled again and said, "Good, because if you said no then I would have lost all respect for you kid." He gently placed her back on the bed and said, "I'm gonna talk with your father some more Haru about putting your team on the back burner so that your squad can get stronger."

Sasuke asked, "So then who will train us?"

Jiraiya looked at Sasuke and said, "I'll be helping Haru's training, but as for you and your teammate Sakura. I'd say Sasuke that in your case I think you should ask the only two shinobi in this village you could ask to help you with your sharingan and you know who they are."

Sasuke knew that he meant Kakashi and Itachi. Haru asked, "Who'll train Sakura then?"

"Most likely Minato will find someone to take her up in training, but like I said Team 7 will be on hold most likely after the Chunnin Exams. By then we should find someone for her." Jiraiya explained, he turned to open the window seeing his toad still outside, "By the way Haru I meant to ask you something."

Haru sat still wondering what he'd ask. Jiraiya looked back at her asking, "If push comes to shove and Naruto does try to actually kill you, then I want to know what your gonna do?" Sasuke was interested in this as well wanting to know what she was gonna do. Haru remained silent for a moment and then proudly smiled at him, "I'll do what I do best! And thats to keep my promise I made to bring him back no matter what!"

Not really surprised at her words he couldn't help but laugh lightly, "Haha, well that doesn't surprise me in the least. Okay gaki I got a few things left I could teach you, but first I need to do a little bit of some research for your old man. I'll be back soon." With that Jiraiya jumped on the giant toad's head and shouted, "Get some rest you two! I'll see you guys real soon!"

The toad lowered it's body then jumped clear into the air kicking dust up in the process. Sasuke turned his body so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed calling to Haru, "Haru-chan…"

The blonde kunoichi looked to Sasuke with a confident smirk. Once he had her attention Sasuke asked, "You have no idea on what you'll do exactly once you see him?"

Haru dropped her smirk and sat down on her bed with her back facing him, "No I don't. If he was that intent on leaving, then how can I convince him to come back willingly when making him come back seemed to drive him further away? I have no idea what to do."

Sasuke pulled his blankets up and slipped under them laying down. He wasn't sure how to respond since he couldn't just say 'He'll come back and everyone will be happy when he does.' So he said all he could say, "Just get stronger and bring him back like you promised. He may hate you for it, but at least everyone will be happy that he's home. Now get some sleep."

Not happy Haru laid in her bed as well saying, "I will get stronger…" She slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

* Night: Hyuuga Compound *

Hinata sat in her room looking out her window wondering what Naruto was doing at this moment. The moon was a half moon right now reflecting how she felt, like her other half disappeared and she knew there was only one person who could make her whole once again. A knock at her door caught her attention and she quietly said they could enter, when her door opened she was surprised to see Hanabi walk in.

The younger Hyuuga walked to Hinata's bed and sat down at the edge looking at her older sister. Hinata stared at her and asked, "Something the matter Hanabi-chan?"

Hanabi sighed and asked, "Your not still attached to him are you?"

This made Hinata groan inwardly about this topic, she knew that Hanabi had a distrust of Naruto and now she thinks Hanabi will speak ill of him because of what happened. When Hinata didn't answer Hanabi pressed the issue, "Hinata he's a traitor. He left the village and he hurt Haru and Sasuke Uchiha in the process, so I don't understand why you are still hung up on that guy."

Hinata turned away from her sister at first she didn't want to argue, but she couldn't let her sister think that Naruto was all bad, "If Naruto-kun is as bad as everyone seems to think, then he would've killed me instead of leaving me unconscious and if he's as heartless as everyone seems to think, then Haru and Sasuke wouldn't be in the hospital but in the morgue right now."

Hanabi stood up and walked in front of her sister staring at her, "He's heartless enough to do what he did to his family." Hinata stood up immediately and pushed her sister with enough force to make her stumble back a few steps. Hanabi stood up straight after being pushed and the two kunoichis glared at the other.

"That's enough."

The two looked to the door and saw a male Hyuuga standing in the doorway. He had long brown hair, a black headband, a khaki shirt and dark brown shorts, he had bandages wrapped around his right arm, chest, and right leg. He looked to be around the same age as Hinata maybe older. He bowed slightly and said, "Forgive my intrusion Lady Hinata, but Hiashi-sama wishes to see you."

Hinata looked from Hanabi to the Hyuuga and said, "Arigatou Neji-nii, I'll go see him now." Not saying anything more Hinata walked passed Neji leaving her room.

Neji watched her leave and looked to Hanabi. She walked up to Neji and said, "Next time don't interfere with us. I'm trying to get her to see that Naruto Namikaze isn't worth her time."

"Forgive me Lady Hanabi, but it didn't seem that way to me." Neji spoke with a calm tone, "It is not my business to meddle in other's affairs, but it is my business to make sure that the main family is protected."

Hanabi walked passed him saying, "I don't need someone to watch over me. Maybe she does, but not me. Remember that Neji."

Neji thought nothing of her words and calmly left Hinata's room and to retreat to his own.

Hinata knocked at her father's door to his office and waited for a response. She heard her father's voice telling her to enter and she calmly opened the door and entered her father's office with her head down, finding the mat laid before her she sat on her knees and bowed to her father asking, "You called for me tou-san?"

Hiashi sat behind a desk looking at his daughter, "Yes I did."

"What for tou-san?"

The clan head took a deep breath and said, "Naruto Namikaze was given an A-Rank in the Bingo Book and there is a kill on sight issued for him with a substantial bounty as well." He saw Hinata's head shoot up after hearing this information and the distraught look on her face.

Hinata couldn't believe that the Hokage would allow something like this to happen and for them to put a bounty on Naruto's head like that, her hands trembled as she gripped her shorts trying to calm herself but was failing. Hiashi saw this and said, "It was the councils decision to put him in the Bingo Book. I believe the Hokage couldn't come up with anything to defend the boy given the actions he's taken."

"So you let the decision pass as well?" Hinata asked feeling tears well up in her eyes. Hiashi replied, "Yes, like the Hokage the clan heads must make decisions that are necessary for the protection of the village. His actions showed that he is no longer one of us and is now our enemy. There is nothing any of us could've said to change facts."

Hinata asked, "Is that all you wished to tell me tou-san?"

Hiashi sighed telling her, "I want you to pack your belongings."

She rose her head again looking at him confused. Hiashi told her, "Your going to stay with the Namikaze family for sometime for special training with the 'Red Hot-Blooded Habanero'." Hiashi had to grin at that not hearing that nickname in a very long time, but he knew that Hinata understood since a lot of Kunoichi knew Kushina's nickname before she became a full time house wife and mother.

"Kushina-sama wants to train me?" Hinata asked just to clarify. Hiashi nodded, "I'm guessing she knows your current situation and feels that your training will be better suited with her. I'm impressed with how far you've come with Kushina's training and I can only imagine that you'll get even stronger under Kushina's wing."

There was knock at his door before he could continue and he said, "Come in." The door opened revealing another Hyuuga who stayed in the doorway, "Hiashi-sama, Lady Kushina is here." Hiashi nodded and motioned for the man to leave. He stood up and said, "You don't have a choice in this matter Hinata, so go now and pack while I speak with our guest. Dismissed."

Hinata could still hear the hardened tone in his voice that she's come to know since her mother died. Before she left she asked him, "Was it you that suggested this tou-san?"

He shook his head as he passed her up answering her question, "No it wasn't mine. As far as I know this was the Namikaze family's idea, as I said that I can only imagine how strong you'll become under her teachings." He placed a hand on her shoulder speaking clearly, "Don't disappoint Kushina. She is a very strong and powerful kunoichi and should be treated with the respect I'm sure you show her."

She looked up at her father with eyes that held a tint of love and respect for him, "Arigatou tou-san for agreeing to this. I will get stronger and I'll bring Naruto-kun back home and make this clan recognize me, but I can't say that I want to stay."

"I understand." was all he said before he and Hinata left the office.

Hinata calmly walked to her room and pulled out a big backpack that she got for her missions for week long events. She began only packing what she needed like her clothes, a few mementos, her toothbrush, things like that. Packing up everything she needed she realized that it was a bit heavier than intended, but it was enough for her to carry without needing to stop. She picked it up and walked to her door and left not looking into it for a second glance.

Walking down the halls of the compound she saw a few of her family members watching her most of them were the main branch. Ignoring them she stopped at the foyer where most guests wait and upon opening the door she saw Hiashi and Kushina bowing to each other saying their goodbyes. Kushina saw Hinata and smiled at her and greeted her, "Hinata-chan. You ready to go?"

Hinata gave her a warming smile back, "Hai." Kushina motioned for Hinata to follow her, the Hyuuga girl walked over to Kushina and stopped midway to look at her father uttering the words, "Arigatou again tou-san. I'll make you proud."

Kushina placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder and told Hiashi, "Like I said Hiashi-san, I'll take care of Hinata. That's a promise." Hiashi smiled at the red head and bowed once more to her. The two kunoichi then took their leave and walked out of the compound to Hinata's new home. Hiashi watched them go feeling that this was the first time he'd done something right for his eldest daughter."

* Hokage Mansion *

Kushina opened the door letting Hinata go inside first. Hinata walked inside the home knowing it well enough, she heard Kushina speak to her, "Well Hinata are you hungry at all?"

Hinata shook her head. The red head asked, "Well then shall we get you settled into a room?"

"I'd like that Kushina-sama."

Kushina told her, "No, no, no I don't like being called 'sama' to much. Just call me sensei from now on." the red head's smile was very warm and comforting. Hinata said clearly, "Ok then sensei. I was wondering if…" Hinata trailed off at first and saw that Kushina tilted her head to look her in the eyes.

"What is it Hinata-chan?"

There was a brief silence as Hinata finally said, "I'd like… to stay in N-Naruto-kun's room if that's okay."

Kushina felt a tug at her heart for the girl and who was she to tell her that she couldn't sleep in there, "Of course Hinata-chan." She took Hinata's backpack and led her upstairs to get settled. She opened the door and both saw that the room was how he left it… clean and nearly plain. Kushina set Hinata's belongings on the bed and said, "I'll take out Naruto's clothes and move them somewhere else for you, so just lay everything out on-" she stopped when she saw Hinata fall to her knees sobbing.

Her mother instincts kicked in and hugged her trying to calm her down, "Shhh it's okay." Hinata hugged her back. Kushina said, "Everything will work out fine. You'll see, we'll see him again I guarantee it." She looked Hinata in the eyes, "Haru will stop at nothing to bring him back home. How about you?"

Hinata wiped her eyes of her tears and said, "Naruto-kun wouldn't want me to sit here crying but to get stronger. I want to show him how strong I've really become and that I'm worthy to be by his side."

Kushina stood up and said, "At-a-girl." Before she left the room she gave one last look to her, "Remember Hinata-chan, this is your home now so you can do just about all you want. If you do get hungry you can fix yourself something in the kitchen. Good night." Kushina closed the door leaving Hinata alone in the room.

Hinata took off her jacket and tossed it aside. Moving her backpack off the bed she moved the covers and got underneath them laying down. She laid facedown and inhaled the scent of the pillow which smelled of Naruto, not going to cry anymore she was going to get stronger for him and make him proud. Sleep took over and the gennin fell asleep in her love's room which was now hers.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Unknown Location *

Madara stood in what looked to be a laboratory thinking, but his thoughts came to a stop when Zetsu appeared in front of him only half his body showing out of the ground. Zetsu smiled at the man asking, "You sure this is the right thing? Entrusting him with a dojutsu like that?"

"I just need him to capture the Kyuubi. From what I saw in that battle he wants to protect her, but sooner or later when she's weakened to the point where summoning the beast is useless I'll strike and rip that beast from her stomach like I did twelve years ago." Madara smugly sat back and said, "Naruto is of no concern. Even if he accepted the sharingan then he'd still be no threat to me. I'm just using him for my goals."

Zetsu's voice changed to a deeper tone, "Will you really get the byakugan for him?"

Madara got up and walked to a cabinet in the room and opened it up, "Yes I intend to do just that." He pulled out from the cabinet a jar filled with a glowing green liquid. Madara looked at what was inside, "Good thing that I know the secrets of the clans in Konoha and even went ahead of myself to get these eyes before my departure." He showed the jar to Zetsu and the plant man saw two eyes floating inside and both were pearl white.

"The eyes of Mejiro Hyuuga the strongest of the Hyuuga clan will do just fine for that boy."

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

Well there it is and I'm sorry for the long wait, but this is my Christmas present for my readers. The next chapter will be a transitional, but the following chapter will start the Chunnin Exams. I got nothing else to say, but that I'll see about getting the next chapter out as a New Years gift. Though we will see how that works out. Thank you all for the reviews and support and I'll see you all soon! Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!


	23. Ready to Go

Chapter Twenty Three : Ready to Go

**I'll explain after this chapter why I was late in updating! **Just to let you all know that this is a transitional chapter and I don't like writing them, but the next chapter will be the Exams. By the way the exams are gonna take place in Iwa and I feel like I might've said Suna and I am looking for that mistake if I made it, so just to clarify the exams will be held in Iwagakure and '**NOT **Sunagakure'

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Next Day Mid Noon: Hokage Office *

Rain poured outside, heavy rain that was needed for the crops growing in the village. Though it was also symbolic of many ninjas in Konoha at the moment. Inside the Hokage office was Minato, Haru, Sasuke, Arashi, Itachi, Kakashi, and Ibiki. The older ninjas just heard Haru and Sasuke's point of view of the battle between them and Naruto. Haru even told them how against her will that she attacked Naruto using the Kyuubi's chakra and impaled him with her chakra arm and how he was able to repair himself using black threads from his body. In exchange the two were told about how Naruto was now an A-Classed criminal in the Bingo Book with a kill on sight ordered.

Hearing that part made Haru see red, "How could you let that pass tou-san!" she screamed in anger. Minato knew that this was to be her reaction knowing full well that his daughter wouldn't be pleased with this. She looked at Arashi and asked in a low tone, "And your okay with this!"

"There was nothing dad could've done. If dad tried to defend Naruto's actions then it would look as if dad was protecting him from punishment and that would endanger dad's position as Hokage." Arashi said calmly.

Minato stared at his daughter saying, "It's done. There is nothing else we can do to stop what's already happened. He's in the book and everyone will be after him now." Haru looked down at her feet fighting the rage inside of her. She looked back up when Minato said, "You lost control which is what caused you to nearly kill him?"

Haru nodded her head signifying a yes. Minato wasn't angry with her, but the monster inside of her, "Well then it seems that while you train I'm going to have to tweak your seal a little bit."

Everyone in the room looked at him like he was crazy. Arashi was the first to speak up, "You can't be serious! What would happen if the seal fails and that monster gets out of it's cage!" Minato remained in his calm mood as he always does, "It won't son. I asked Jiraiya to go on a mission for awhile, but when he returns the two of us and your mother will oversee the process."

Kakashi trusted his sensei, but still had a doubt, "Sensei this is a big risk we are taking. You said yourself that there is no object that can contain the beast, so if your calculations are off-"

"I know Kakashi, but they are not off nor will I fail." Minato cut in saying, "With the power Naruto has and with Kakuzu again with him this will mean that the next time we see him again I highly doubt that we can talk him into coming back. Maybe if I tweak the seal and mess with that monster than maybe Haru can control it's power a little more."

Haru liked the idea and spoke up, "I'll do it! If it helps me get stronger then I'll do it!" Arashi wanted to reason with the two fearing that they really didn't realize what was at stake here, but Haru stopped him by continuing to speak, "No one should have a say with decision I make concerning my prisoner! It's my choice! This is for me to make no one else should have a say in this!"

She kindly looked to Arashi calming down, "Onii-chan, this is what I want to do. It will all work out like it always does."

Itachi and Ibiki watched this whole scent unfold before them and agreed with Arashi and Kakashi that this was absurd to do something so risky, but they had no say in the matter. Arashi lowered his head, "Haru-chan, don't do this because of Naruto."

"As I said Onii-chan. I promised to get him back, but I can't do that if I lose my cool again. Please trust me." she pleaded with her older brother. Arashi always turned out to be the one protecting her when she was growing up and this was the evidence of it.

Minato stood up from his desk crossing his arms, "Son it will be fine. Jiraiya-sensei and myself will overlook it and take precautions. Your fuinjutsu improved greatly and I want you to be there as well." Arashi knew at this point that arguing was useless and that this was something the two were hell bent on doing. He did nothing but nod in approval. "Good. Now we can't start as I said until Jiraiya returns."

Ibiki decided to speak up asking Minato, "Hokage-sama… about my request?"

Everyone looked to Ibiki wondering what request he was speaking of. Minato knew what he was talking about and gave his approval, "Yes, I've thought about it and there is no reason for me to say no. Team Kai will be disbanded and the remaining teammates shall enter the ANBU academy however if they cannot complete the training within the elapsed time, then they won't be sent out."

Completely understanding Ibiki knew that that was really all he could ask for, "Arigatou Hokage-sama. I failed once as a sensei I won't fail this time, I'll still oversee their training like before and maybe just maybe we can discover a possible weakness in Naruto's abilities."

This caught intreats quick. Haru looked at Ibiki asking in a worried tone, "What does that mean?" Ibiki didn't answer and remained silent like before. Haru looked to her father expecting him to answer. Arashi did as well and it hit him making him question his method, "Dad, don't tell me that…" Arashi stopped not being able to finish.

Haru and Sasuke were confused as to what they were all talking about. Minato sighed and answered, "Yes I did. As per regulations a special ninja squad must be put together to handle nuke-nins. It was discussed early this morning between myself, Ibiki, Shikaku, and Danzo."

Minato paused briefly before looking out his window, "Four out of five ANBU will be assembled… two of which are high profiled while the other two will start at the academy. In three years they will be launched to handle with Naruto." This shocked Haru and Sasuke.

Before either could speak up Itachi told the two gennins, "Don't argue you two. This must be done as many villages do this to keep their secrets from spilling out. A special ninja squad is always put together to assure that."

Haru gritted her teeth now knowing how things are spiraling out of control. Arashi looked form Itachi to Ibiki seeing the two stare back at him intently, then that's when it hit him as well, "It's you two? Your two of the five who'll be tracking down Naruto?" That brought confident smiles to both men's faces.

Minato smiled as well explaining the situation, "Despite how this turned out I found out that who better to track him down than Naruto's former team & sensei along with a man who's fought Arashi Namikaze for a number of years."

Despite finding this slightly better than an ANBU unit devoted to finishing their mission Arashi and Haru felt a tad bit more relieved hearing this news. Minato walked around his desk to look at his son, "We still need one more to fill the position, so this team is incomplete. In the meantime a hunter squad was set up to search for Naruto first."

Arashi now fully aware of what was going on and was happy that he was told this information rather than be left in the dark although knowing how Ibiki and Itachi act on missions he wasn't so sure that they'd bring Naruto back home in one piece. Minato told everyone, "Okay this little meeting is over with and I need to get back to work. Arashi-kun escort Haru-chan back to the house to meet our guest."

"Guest?" Haru asked confused. Arashi told Haru, "Yeah Hinata-chan is going to be living with us since kaa-san will be training her." Haru was very surprised at this news and was happy that Hinata would be there.

Arashi told Haru, "Come on let's go so as not to leave kaa-san and Hinata-chan waiting for us for to long." Haru agreed and followed her brother out of the office. Itachi walked over to Sasuke telling him that they needed to go as well, Kakashi and Ibiki also took their leave from the office as well leaving only Minato alone. Minato did his best thinking when he was alone and able to plan things out way in advance, but at the moment he questioned whether or not this plan of his would work out in the end.

The rain continued to pour down onto the Leaf village leaving many to stay inside, but many of the shops remained open especially cafes. Few villagers were out and about makings sure the rain didn't damage a lot many wore raincoats or had umbrellas to keep the rain from hitting their heads although two ninjas walked the streets not minding the chilly rain.

Sasuke and Itachi walked silently down the streets of Konoha both Uchiha's usually took the long walks to their home. Many of the villagers were told the circumstances about what happened to the Uchiha clan and how Itachi was one of the ones to kill them off along with Arashi, but none ever congratulated him on it. They all trusted the two Uchihas as they still were with Konoha, but were still weary about the two at times.

Itachi always walked a few feet ahead of Sasuke knowing full well that his brother was always behind him. Sasuke looked at his brother feeling his shadow cast down on him making him wonder how strong his brother really was, somehow he and Arashi were able to defeat an entire clan overnight. A clan that was feared by many. He understood that in his battle with Naruto that there was a gap between himself and the blonde and now knows that if he meets Naruto again then chances were that he'd die for real that time. That thought made him stop dead in his tracks catching the attention of Itachi who stopped walking though he didn't face him.

"What's wrong Sasuke-kun?" Itachi asked in his usual tone. There was the same silence between the two like there always was and Itachi was prepared to live in silence for what he'd done to his little brother.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and forced out, "What if I had been in the coup? What if I killed Konoha ninjas for the sake of the Uchiha clan? Would you have killed me?" He watched as Itachi turned to face him his sharingan blaring looking down at him like always.

His voice dropped to one of anger, "Those words could spell your death Sasuke-kun. I did what was necessary, I'd rather die than live with a family that wanted nothing but to fulfill their own power hungry greed. By speaking those words you've become an enemy of Konoha."

Sasuke began to shake with fear looking into his brother's eyes the same eyes that killed his family, but he didn't back down, "That's not what I asked!"

"It's what your implying. Your not saying it but I can see it, your wondering why I didn't betray Konoha as well? Hiruzen Sarutobi and Minato Namikaze have brought peace and prosperity to this village and our family was willing to destroy all of that for the sake of power. I made an oath to do what was right and just I have seen what needless bloodshed does and it brings nothing but hatred, sadness, death, and it creates monsters in the process!" This was the first time Sasuke ever heard him raise his voice like this. Itachi turned around and told him, "If you hate me then so be it, but I will never apologize for killing betrayers."

Sasuke asked, "Then what of Naruto? Would you kill him?"

Itachi cut in asking the same question to his little brother, "What of you? If he tries to kill you will you kill him? Can you take Naruto Namikaze's life?"

Feeling bravery swell in him Sasuke walked around his brother to stare him in the eyes, "I can't!" there was brief pause before he looked down at his feet telling his brother, "He didn't kill me that time… I don't know why, but he had plenty of opportunities and yet he let me live. I hate how he looked down on me, but I don't want to see my friends shed tears no more. That's why I won't kill him! I'll fight him so Haru doesn't have to! I'll relieve Haru of the burden she's carrying, but I need your help to do so!" The last part was rushed, but Itachi heard him clearly.

Itachi walked around Sasuke voicing himself, "You've finally let go of your pride I see. Very well, but I can't train you yet. Kakashi-san is still your sensei, I'll see the Chunnin Exams as a test as well. If you can come back alive and impress the people of Iwa with your skills, then I'll train you until then I suggest you first get used to using your sharingan Sasuke-kun."

"Itachi!" Sasuke shouted and saw his brother stop, "I can't forgive you as your brother for what you've done, but I can look up to you as a ninja." After speaking Itachi started walking off again leaving Sasuke behind. The young Uchiha picked up his pace again following his older brother.

* Hokage Mansion *

Arashi walked into the mansion with Haru holding an umbrella over her head to keep the rain off of her. They both kicked off their sandals and walked to the living room seeing Hinata and Kushina sitting on the floor mats reading a scroll. Haru smiled at first then frowned remembering what happened to Hinata that day.

Hinata and Kushina saw this and the red head put on a smile to cheer up her daughter, "Haru-chan it's good that your home. Come join us." Haru hesitantly walked over to the girls and sat down next to Hinata looking down at her hands. Kushina looked at Arashi waving her hand for him to go, "Arashi-kun this is girl time right now so off with you."

He didn't take offense and instead smiled, "I go it, I got it. I'll go now." taking his leave he walked to the indoor training grounds of the mansion.

Kushina asked Haru, "Why the glum look Haru-chan?"

"I'm sorry." Haru muttered. She looked at Hinata with worried eyes, "I'm sorry Hinata-chan that I couldn't bring Naruto-nii back."

Hinata patted her friend on the shoulder trying to give an encouraging smile, but the sound of Naruto's name made it difficult to give it her all, "Haru-chan please don't blame yourself. Don't worry we'll both bring him back home just you wait and see. In no time Naruto-kun will be back home where he belongs."

Seeing the two girls talk to each other about bringing Naruto back made Kushina more happy that they haven't given up on him just yet. She let out a cough to catch both girl's attention explaining, "Haru-chan it was decided that Kakashi will train you until after the exams and that afterward you'll be going on a training trip with Jiraiya and Arashi-kun."

This shocked the blonde kunoichi who stood up and shouted, "I have to leave! For how long!" Kushina sighed knowing that she'd object to this, "We don't know yet, but we will soon after the exams. Your father and I have talked about this and we both decided that this was the best course of action we could take. I don't like that all three of my children will soon be gone, but if you want to get stronger than you'll need both of their teachings. The rundown is this, you'll still train with Team 7 until the exams, Jiraiya and your father will tweak the seal for better control, you'll participate in the exams, then you'll go on your training mission."

Haru didn't like that these decisions were being made for her, she didn't like it at all. Kushina looked at Hinata telling her, "Hinata-chan this scroll that we were given by your father is to help your taijutsu, but I don't know a lot about the Hyuuga clan's taijutsu style so I can only speculate most of it. I'll also teach you some of the jutsu I know so that way you'll have a diversity of both taijutsu, ninjutsu, and some kenjutsu knowledge. I'm fairly sure that Kurenai will teach you some genjutsu which is good because quite frankly…. I suck at genjutsu."

Hinata asked, "I'll still be training with my team?" Kushina nodded, "Yes, your still Kurenai's student, but after missions and training you'll come back here for training with me."

She stood up about to walk away, "Things will pick up soon I'm sure of it. Haru-chan you may not like whats going on right now just understand that your father and I are trying our best to make sure there is no repeat of what happened twelve years ago." both kunoichi saw her look saddened by mentioning this, "Hinata-chan be sure to keep that scroll safe until we start your training. Also." Kushina pulled out a sealing scroll and unsealed it's content, the smoke covered the item, but when it died down both Haru and Hinata saw that the unsealed item was the Black Mamba sword Naruto would use. Kushina lightly tossed the sword to Hinata who caught it.

"I think Hinata-chan you should familiarize yourself with that sword. If what Kinsei-san told me is true, then that sword will seek out it's other half." said Kushina.

Hinata held onto the sword clarifying, "You mean it'll let me know when Naruto-kun is nearby?" She wasn't given a verbal response, but a nod instead and that was enough for her. Kushina told the girls, "Well I'll take my leave now. There is one thing I have to do before I can start Hinata's training." Kushina walked out of the living room and to the training ground where her oldest son was.

Haru looked over at Hinata and saw her staring intently at the sword. Hinata voiced to Haru, "I don't know how to use swords… I always used my taijutsu and only a few kunais, but I never used a sword before."

Quickly Haru stood up and told her, "I'll teach you! I may not have enough experience using swords, but I know enough!"

"Arigatou Haru-chan." Hinata said sweetly. Haru sat back down and toned her voice down to speak, "Hinata-chan… Let's get stronger so that we both can bring him back home." Haru held up her hand for Hinata to shake and Hinata happily replied, "Deal." and shook Haru's hand. Both of the gennins wanted Naruto back and they were going to get stronger together to accomplish this.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Next Day: Unknown Location *

Inside a dimly lit room laid Naruto on a hospital bed with bandages covering the right side of his face leaving only his mouth and left side visible. Entering in the room was Kakuzu, Madara, and Pain standing around the unconscious Namikaze.

Madara told the three other nins, "The operation was a success, but he can't use his new eye for a few more days." Pain stared at him for a moment asking, "That wasn't such a wise idea. He's that much more powerful now and with the training we will give him he'll eventually become to powerful for even us to control."

The former Uchiha didn't think nothing of it and looked to Kakuzu, "As long as Kakuzu-san is here then there should be no problems. We just have to make sure that your alive long enough for us to get what we need from this boy."

"I already said that I'd help you with your plans. Don't push your luck Madara." Kakuzu said in a threatening tone. The masked man pretended to be shaken, "Sorry Kakuzu-san. Well anyway he's a valuable tool in capturing the Kyuubi so we'll need him to have an edge over Haru Namikaze and this could work out should he meet Minato, Arashi, Jiraiya, Kushina, or any other powerful ninja along his way."

Pain kept starring intently at the boy and Madara commented on that, "Feeling remorse for your family member?"

"None what so ever Madara. I'm going now." was all Pain said as he walked out of the room. Kakuzu told Madara, "You should go as well."

Madara didn't argue and took his leave from the room and Kakuzu followed out of the room as well leaving the blonde ninja to sleep.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* One Week Later *

Over the course of the week the knowledge of Naruto Namikaze spread quickly as this was news that peeked everyone's interest. The other elemental nations saw this as an opportunity to capture Naruto Namikaze alive, while many saw this a chance to kill the child of the man they hated. Konoha civilians couldn't believe that a son of the Hokage would go rogue.

This caused many to speak ill of him, since he was gone for many years before returning and rumors spread that he was a spy for Iwa to infiltrate Konoha and kill the Hokage. The Konoha ninjas who didn't know the story had no way of knowing if that was true, but they did suspect that Naruto was working for someone else if he was able to elude capture so easily.

The week was grueling for Haru since she could hear the rumors as she walked the streets wanting nothing more than to shut everyone up. The villagers though would stop talkin once any of the Namikazes were around and play it off as if they weren't talking bad about the runaway blonde. Hinata and Haru were told by Kushina to go to the ninja academy and to await for their senseis. She only told them that it had to do with the upcoming Chunnin Exams and that this was very important that they'd go.

As the two kunoichis turned the corner they saw their friends gathered by the single swing in front of the academy. Sakura sat in the swing talking with Ino who stood beside her, Kiba sat on the grass playing with his dog Akamaru, Sasuke was leaned against the building taking no interest in the things around him, Shino stood off to the side looking at the sky, Shikamaru was laying on the grass with his hands behind his head as pillows taking a nap, and Choji was sitting next to Shikamaru eating some BBQ flavored chips.

Ino looked away from Sakura and saw Haru and Hinata walking over to them and shouted, "Bout time you guys made it!" Everyone's attention was now on the two girls save for Shikamaru who was still napping. Haru grabbed Hinata's hand and ran over to their friends with a huge grin on her face.

Choji said between bites, "Didn't (munch) think that (much munch) you'd make (munch) it." Haru told everyone, "You'd think some minor injuries were enough to keep me down! I'm way tougher than that! Right Hinata-chan?"

Hinata smiled and told everyone, "Hai she's very tough."

Sasuke watched from where he was and knew that Haru was putting up a facade to not worry their friends about how she really felt. Everyone seemed to get down and looked away from Haru.

The blonde kunoichi picked up on this and asked, "Whoa why the sudden buzz kill?" When no one answered Sakura got up from the swing and said, "Kakashi-sensei, Asuma-sensei, and Kurenai-sensei told us what happened with Naruto-kun some days ago."

Hinata and Haru frowned and both knew that it was only a matter of time before they knew about Naruto deserting the village. Though Sakura was there when it happened she didn't know the outcome of the whole situation. Ino asked Haru not wanting to actually say Naruto's name, "Is it true what happened? Is he really gone?"

Haru could only nod at Ino's question. Choji put his chips away and asked her sincerely, "So then about him being an A-Ranked criminal is true?"

"What ever you heard from our senseis is all true…" was all Haru wanted to say or talk about. Hinata patted her friend on the shoulder to comfort her.

Shikamaru got up from his 'nap' when actually he was just laying there listening to everything analyzing everything. He stood up and told Haru, "So what will you do?"

Sasuke broke in saying, "We should leave this discussion now and talk about this upcoming Chunnin Exam instead."

Kiba looked at Sasuke saying, "No we should talk about this now teme! This is serious stuff we're talking about here!" Sasuke stared down Kiba, "You don't know what happened at the time Kiba so I suggest you leave it be."

He didn't like being ordered by Sasuke and walked over to him till they were a few feet apart, "Why's that? From what I heard you were there and you got your ass handed to you on a silver platter!"

Ino and Sakura ran to get in-between both boys telling them to stop and not to fight. Sasuke eyes activated and he said in a low tone, "Watch yourself mutt!" Kiba flexed his claws saying in just as low a tone, "Make me Uchiha!"

Hinata watched this all go on and finally snapped, "That's enough!" Causing everyone to flinch and look at her, this caught them all by surprise since Hinata never raises her voice like this. Hinata fought back her tears refusing to look weak in front of her friends, "Naruto-kun left on his own, he fought against Haru-chan and Sasuke-kun and was able to escape. Haru-chan and myself are well aware of what's being said about him and the events surrounding him… That Naruto-kun is a traitor to his village and is an A-Ranked criminal and is to be killed on sight…"

Everyone continued to stare at her as she spoke, Hinata said the last part with her voiced slightly raised, "However I won't let anyone kill him! We'll bring him back home and I'll protect Naruto-kun from everyone that turned on him in an instant!" This left the rookie nins speechless including Haru.

A clapping noise caught all the gennins attention as they saw Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai standing on the roof of the building. Kakashi was the one clapping and said, "Very nice Hinata-chan. Not even the Hokage could've said it better himself." Kurenai was proud of her student that she finally broke out of her shell and was showing that she was very serious.

All three jounins jumped from the rooftop and landed by Hinata and Haru. Kurenai placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder telling her, "Very well said Hinata-chan."

Asuma put out a cigarette that he just lit and told the gennins there, "We just got done from our Jounin sensei meeting and it was decided on what teams will attend the upcoming Chunnin Exams in Iwagakure." Kakashi added, "We just came by to see which of our teams is willing to go into the exams. Anyone got something they'd like to say?"

Choji said to Asuma in a worried tone, "Asuma-sensei are you sure we're ready?" Immediately Ino wrapped her arm around her teammate's neck and shouted, "Of course we're ready! Right Shikamaru!" Shikamaru unenthusiastically shrugged his shoulders in response. Asuma told his team, "That's good to hear, because the four of us will be heading to Iwa for the Chunnin Exams. Pack at least a weeks worth of clothes and I hope your able to do your own laundry." He tried to joke to get his team to lighten up.

Kurenai walked away from Hinata and asked the two boys and the pup, "What about you boys? Think you three are ready for the exams?"

Kiba pumped his fist in the air and shouted, "We'll show Iwa that Team 8 is serious! Right Akamaru!" Kiba's dog jumped on top of his head and barked happily and wagging his tail back and forth. Shino adjusted his glasses while responding, "This is a perfect opportunity to showcase my talent." brief and no hint of enthusiasm in his voice, but Kurenai knew that was the best response that she was gonna get. She looked over at Hinata who only nodded her head seriously.

This time Kakashi put his hand on Haru's shoulder and led her over to where Sasuke and Sakura were standing, "How about Team 7? Do you think that your ready for this exam? Let me warn you that it is in no way like the exams given at the academy, you can die at these things."

Choji, Ino, Sakura, and Kiba looked a bit stunned not knowing that killing was allowed at these things. Haru brushed Kakashi's hand off to stand in front of him, "I'll win this thing! No problem!" giving him a thumbs up as well.

Sasuke made 'humph' noise to get the cyclops nin's attention, "While I don't share Haru's enthusiasm I am all for this exam. I won't back down just because you add the word 'die' in it." Sakura wasn't so sure about her skills in this since she could only do a few genjutsu and was limited on ninjutsu and her taijutsu was mediocre at best. Haru sensed her friend's doubt and walked over to her and slung her arm around Sakura's neck shouting, "Don't worry Sakura-chan! You'll do great at this I just know you will! Team 7 will need that high I.Q. of yours to get us out of any jam we find ourselves in!"

Feeling a little more confident Sakura nodded and told Kakashi, "Hai sensei I'm ready for this too."

"That's very good Sakura-chan. Well then it's settled, it seems the Rookie nine are ready for the exams. Like Asuma said you'll need to bring a weeks worth of clothes and I really do hope you know how to do your laundry." Kakashi asked the three.

The three jounin stood next to each other and watched as their student's grouped up. The three were about to wave goodbye to them, but a loud voice caught their attention.

"So my eternal rial's team is gonna participate in the Chunnin Exams!"

Everyone looked at the roof of the academy and saw a ninja that was very famous for his taijutsu: Might Guy. Standing behind him was his team, one of them was Neji Hyuuga, the other was TenTen who sported a pink sleeveless blouse and dark green pants. The third gennin looked like a mini version of guy except he didn't have a green flack jacket on and had bandages that covered his hands and most of his forearms.

Kakashi had sweat drop appear on his head saying lowly, "Great…"

Guy and his team jumped down from the roof and landed a few feet away from the jounins and gennins. Guy told his fellow jounins, "You three sure your teams are up for this kind of competition? Most who come out either lose their minds, lose a body part, or die in these. Which is why I held my team back from the last Chunnin Exams to get their minds and bodies ready for this year's exam."

Haru and Kiba both shouted at the jounin, "Don't mock us when we're standing right here!"

Kakashi and Kurenai told their students, "That's enough!"

Guy gave the two kids a thumbs up saying, "That's the power of youth right there! You'll need that if your gonna win in these games!"

Asuma casually lit another cigarette and asked the clad green jounin, "Are you aware of how many teams Konoha is sending to this?"

"Yes I do actually I just got done talking to the Hokage." Guy raised up both his hands holding up eight fingers, "Eight more teams will go on top of ours. So which means that a total of twelve teams in all added up that's thirty-six gennins from Konoha and twelve jounins."

Kurenai concluded, "That's not bad."

Finishing his cigarette Asuma put the butt of it out and flicked it in some random direction, "I suppose we leave in a few days. We're are all leaving in a large unit, from the size of the group and distance from here to Iwa it'll take about a week till we get there."

The jounins looked at their students and informed them to meet at the front gate in two days. The gennins nodded most determined to enter these exams and watched the four jounins walk away to get prepared themselves. The moment they left Haru spoke to TenTen, "Hey TenTen how's training coming along?"

TenTen happily replied, "It's very painful. Guy-sensei drives us into the ground with non-stop training."

"TenTen! Guy-sensei's training is top notch which is why we are all very strong!" shouted the mini Guy clone. Haru didn't recognize him and TenTen introduced him, "Haru-chan this is my teammate Rock Lee."

Rock Lee gave them all a thumbs which he considers his 'good guy' pose.

Haru immediately thought sarcastically to herself, 'He needs to be wearing more green.' As everything went to an awkward silence Shikamaru scanned over the quite Hyuuga and said, "I know you. Your Neji Hyuuga the top ranked rookie from last years graduating class."

The Rookie Nine's attention went to the Hyuuga who stood quietly behind his teammates. Neji glanced at Shikamaru, "Didn't think that your graduating class would know about me."

"I make it appoint to know a lot of people that way I know who to avoid in battles." said Shikamaru.

Sasuke quickly scanned over Neji hearing how he was the top rookie graduating before him and his class. Neji crossed his arms and said, "I would've thought that Naruto Namikaze would be the one I'd fight in this upcoming exams, but because of recent lighting on his situation I guess I'll take the second ranked." Neji smirked while saying that.

At that moment Sasuke and Neji locked eyes with one another. Neji looked at Hinata and said, "I'll see you around sometime Hinata-sama." and walked away.

Haru looked over at Hinata and saw that she looked upset with Neji. TenTen started rubbing her head and bowed to Hinata saying, "I'm sorry Hinata-chan for Neji's comment. See you around Haru-chan." and she quickly chased after her teammate. Lee did the same thing bowing to Hinata, "I also apologize for my comrade's remark Hinata-sama! Please do not be mad at him!" and he too ran off to chase down his teammate.

Kiba picked Akamaru up from off his head and asked to no one in particular, "What was the apology for?"

Hinata told him, "He was mocking Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun." Haru shouted, "He was what! I'm gonna kick his ass!" Before she could storm off Ino and Sakura grabbed her arms telling her to calm down.

Sasuke told Haru, "Don't be baited into his words. I'll settle things with him at the exams so it doesn't matter." Haru semi calmed down and felt Ino and Sakura let go of her.

Shino spoke up finally after awhile, "Sasuke is right. Things will play out in the exams anyway so why jump to it when it will come to you."

Agreeing with his friend Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head, "That guy is gonna be real troublesome. I say let's call it quits for today and head home, our sensei's were right we need to get prepped for the travel. I'm outta here see ya guys." Shikamaru then strolled off followed by Choji and Ino.

Kiba asked Hinata, "Yo Hinata-chan want to hang out with us so we can go over some team combos?" Hinata agreed and said her goodbyes to Haru and the rest of Team 7 and left with Kiba, Shino, and Akamaru. That left Team 7 by themselves and Sakura asked her friends, "Should we do the same? I mean we should at least come up with codes or some form of communication in case something happens. That way we can send messages freely to one another without others realizing what we are saying."

"Good idea Sakura-chan. Haru we should get going as well, we'll need to do a lot of thought on this one." Sasuke said to her trying not to sound rude. Haru spun around and shouted, "Let's do this then!" And raced off to where they would normally do their training.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Sunagakure *

A tall man wearing a tan ninja flak jacket and a black ninja outfit under it, the left half his face was covered with a wrap that hung loosely and the rest of it covered the top of his head entirely, his suna headband was over his wraps, and he had two distinct red point tattoos under his right eye. He spoke in a deep voice to three kids before him, "I hope you three are ready for the Chunnin Exams in Iwagakure."

The first one to speak was a boy who's entire body was covered in a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. He also wears a black hood with cat-like ears and his forehead protector on his forehead and noticably was the triangular face-paint design and a strange object wrapped in bandages on his back, "Don't worry Baki we got this in the bag. There is no way some kids can beat us."

The only female of the group spoke next, "Though I don't share my brother's enthusiasm we will get this done quickly." The kunoichi had dark teal eyes and blond hair, which is gathered into four pigtails arranged around her head. Her outfit consists of a single light purple-colored garment that extends from below her shoulders to halfway down her thighs, with a scarlet sash tied around her waist. In addition to incorporating fishnet worn over her shoulders and legs, specifically on her right calf and her left thigh, she also wears her headband around her neck.

Teh sensei called Baki smiled at two of his student's words, but looked to the other side of the room to his third student who stood silently at the balcony's edge looking at the village. This boy was obviously younger than the other two, his appearance was that of pale skin and short, spiky hair that is brick-red. Gaara's eyes are spindrift, a mix between turquoise and sea foam green, no eyebrows, and he has two very notable traits in his outward appearance: firstly, he has black eye rings around his eyes and the second was a red tattoo of the kanji for 'love' above his left eye. His outfit consisted of a black full body suit with a t-shirt-like sleeves white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips, and a wide leather band system over the left shoulder and right side of his hips. With this leather band, he carried around his gourd. He also wrapped his Suna headband over the band.

None of the three attempted to approach him and Baki asked from a distance, "Gaara... The Kazekage doesn't want you to lose your cool and to keep the deaths to a limit."

The boy named Gaara looked over his shoulder and said in a low tone, "I don't follow his orders." The feel of a deadly aura surrounded him as he spoke making the three sweat in fear. Baki steeled his resolve and responded, "Gaara please don't make this difficult. We leave in a few days, so all three of you be prepared for the battles to come."

The two older gennins nodded and watched Baki leave and Gaara scoffed and continued looking out at the village thankful for the fact that he'd be out of the village again.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

Sorry for the late upload, but I have four excuses and I'm not sure which one you'll believe so I decided that why not list all four and see which one you think is true:

**1**. Got very lazy and decided I'd do a few sentences every hour.

**2.** Discovered that if you mix together Nyquil and two Rockstar shots are not a very good combination and debated if I should go to the hospital or not. (this happened many times and still am deciding whether or not I should go to the hospital)

**3**. I got stuck in an elevator for 41 hours and my only form of entertainment was to watch Tosh.0 on my Droid.

or

**4.** I was defending mankind against Sasuke fanboys and although I defeated and killed them I still found the time to debate whether I should go to the hospital after drinking both Nyquil and two Rockstar shots. (Still debating that even now)

Leave in a review and add which one of my excuses you believe. Thank you for waiting and now I must be off to accept my medal for the five Sasuke fanboys I killed. Peace!


	24. Begin the Chunnin Exams

Chapter Twenty Four : Begin the Chunnin Exams

Yes I am alive and I am well! First I must say that I am sorry for the wait, but I am here now and here is the update! My Chunnin Exam Arc will probably take about four chapters maybe depending how I get everything to fit and flow. Thank you for waiting and here is the new chapter!

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Two Days Later: Konoha *

Haru was desperately racing to the north gate of Konoha along with her friend Hinata. Both had their packs to take for their trip to Iwagakure and now they just needed to get to the meeting spot at the gate so they could all leave as a unit. Haru began shouting as the two ran, "I can't believe I overslept again!"

Smiling at how her friend was reacting to waking up late and needed to prepare all last minute was amusing. She on the other hand was an early riser and was well ready before Haru was even awake. This trip was very important to her since it would make her that much more stronger when she sees Naruto again, not only did she want to get stronger for him, but also her family as well. She had a training regime with her team the other day and just from a friendly sparring match she knew that Shino was the stronger of the them and she needed to get stronger.

"We're here!" Haru shouting making Hinata flinch slightly at the booming voice of her friend. Looking ahead they saw that Shino, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji, and her cousin Neji were already there waiting along with a few other gennins who would be traveling to Iwa. Haru and Hinata jumped down next to the ones they knew greeting them.

Haru dropped her smile and stormed over to Neji starring into his eyes. Hinata was about to walk over to stop a potential fight, but Shikamaru and Shino grabbed Hinata's arms and shook their heads at her telling her not to interfere and so she did standing there watching her cousin and best friend stare each other down. Sasuke watched from the sidelines amused at Haru's bravery or stupidity.

Neji closed his eyes and asked with a superiority tone, "Something I can do for you Haru-san?" Haru gripped her fist forcing herself to not fight this guy now, "I know that you were disrespecting my brother the other day and I gotta say that I don't like it."

Neji's eyes opened looking down at the blonde haired girl before him, "He's a traitor to his village and does not deserve any kind of respect in my opinion." Haru immediately reached up and grabbed Neji's collar shouting at him, "Shut your goddamn mouth or I'll shut it for you!"

Neji didn't understand why she would protect him after what he did, "Protecting scum who'd betray his friends and comrades deserves what he gets in the end? What point would there be to bring him back when he'll just be killed for his offenses anyway?" Neji could feel Haru's fist tremble and continued to taunt her, "Right now the whole nation is against him and sooner or later he will bite the dust. It's only inevitable."

Not taking anymore she pulled her free hand back to punch Neji, but the Hyuuga grabbed Haru's hand that held his collar and flipped her over his shoulder tossing her a few feet away. Haru recovered in the air and grabbed a weapon strapped to her waist, it was a three sectional staff that combined to make a bo staff. Swinging it around Neji taunted her by dropping into his fighting stance and motioned with his hand for her to attack and Haru blindly did.

When she neared Neji she swung her bo staff with all her might, but she suddenly froze and as did Neji evident as how he gritted his teeth and kept trying to move his body. Both Haru and Neji looked at the ground and saw a shadow connected with theirs and followed it with their sights all the way to Shikamaru who was on one knee and had activated his family's ninjutsu.

Shikamaru smirked and said, "Now, now this is troublesome. We have plenty of time to fight in Iwa so let's just save our strength for that."

Sasuke looked at Shikamaru a little stunned thinking, 'I didn't expect Shikamaru to act first and so quickly. If I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings, then I would've almost missed him performing that jutsu.' Shino looked at Shikamaru as well thinking around the same lines as Sasuke. Hinata let out a sigh of relief and was glad that someone stopped the fighting. Shikamaru released his jutsu and stood back up, "Right now that that's settled we can go about pretending to like him Haru-chan. I don't condone what he says, but getting upset over it isn't worth it. He baited you and you fell for it don't fall for it again."

Haru looked from Shikamaru to Neji and pointed her bo staff at him shouting, "You better hope that we don't fight otherwise I'll drive you into the dirt where you belong!" Neji made a smirking remark, "As far into the dirt like Naruto did to you?"

Before Haru could react a flash of green appeared in-between her and Neji and she recognized him as Rock Lee. Haru's first thought was, 'He moved as fast as Naruto!'

Lee had his hands out as a gesture for her to stop, "Haru-chan you mustn't fight him just yet! We have plenty of times to fight in the Chunnin Exams!"

Haru lowered he bo staff and turned away from Lee and walked over to Hinata. Lee lowered his hands and looked to his teammate with a disapproving look, "Neji that was uncalled for." Neji didn't say anything and only crossed his arms, "You shouldn't taunt someone like that it is very un-youthful of someone." Neji made a huff at Lee and turned away from him. Lee was gonna say more, but the sound of more people caught his and everyone else's attention.

Sakura and Ino came along together, then TenTen came next yelling at Lee for not waiting up for her, Kiba and Akamaru made it with barely enough time to spare. The rest of the other team's gennins appeared the jounins started to come as well. Kurenai and Asuma were of the first to make it, then Guy, and the last jounin to show up was Kakashi.

Haru shouted at her sensei, "I thought you weren't gonna make it at first! what's your excuse this time for being late!" Kakashi smiled under his mask and said, "Well you see I was helping this guy with moss green hair get directions back to the ocean and his crew, but it turns out that he has a poor sense of directions so I just-"

Sasuke, Haru, and Sakura shouted, "Save the excuses actually!" Everyone was silenced when they saw the Hokage, his wife and oldest son appear in the center of the large group. The three moved so fast that none of the gennins even realized their presence until they noticed their senseis' looking into their direction. Minato smiled and said to his ninjas, "This is going to be a fairly long trip for such a big group. Now remember all of you that you'll be going to another ninja village and must abide by their rules and are in no way to interfere with how things are done there. Listen to your senseis and stay within reach of them at all times. During the exams you must be prepared for the worst case scenario. Understand?"

The gennins all looked nerve wrecked while some looked eager to get going. Minato told the jounins, "The Tsuchikage knows your all coming, but don't expect a warm welcome." The jounins all nodded.

Minato put his hands in his pockets and told the gennins, "I expect that all of you will do fine in these exams otherwise your senseis wouldn't let you go in this. Make Konoha proud and come back with your heads held high and finally…. Good luck!"

After he spoke the jounins began directing the gennins to start walking out of the village in a large group. Kushina looked around the crowd for Haru and saw her, but didn't approach her knowing that she'd only 'embarrass' her daughter in front of her friends.

Arashi slung a backpack over his shoulder and said, "Well I guess I'm off too."

Kushina grabbed her son's arm and said, "I know you'll be fine, but make sure that you look after Haru after all they are going to Iwa and-"

"Relax kaa-san I won't let anything happen to her." Arashi told her calming her down. He looked at his father and said, "I want to be kept updated on Naruto though if you find something."

"Of course son." Minato said, "I'll see you guys sooner than you know." Minato and Arashi gave each other a salute and Arashi ran off to go catch up with the Konoha unit. Minato put his hand around his wife's shoulder and pulled her close saying, "There she goes."

She smiled and repeated, "Yeah, there she goes…" deep down she was torn wishing that Naruto was in that group of gennins who left. Minato could sense her thoughts and said, "We'll get him back, don't you worry about it."

Turning around she buried her face in his chest whispering, "I'm a mother… I can't help but worry about my babies…. but Minato-kun…. have you told Arashi-kun of what he's to expect when he get's to Iwagakure?" Minato immediately looked saddened telling her in a tone that wasn't fitting of a man like him, "No… not yet. This isn't a definite, but it's something I should tell him when I'm sure that it'll be finalized. I just hope he can forgive me… especially Hana."

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Unknown Location *

Kakuzu, Kisame, and Hidan took Naruto to a lair where many low classed nuke nins like to go and told him to hunt down and kill all the ninjas. The three stood outside a cave that lead to an underground lair that was actually a connection of tunnels.

Kisame gave a toothy grin saying outlaid, "Think the gaki is ready for something like this?" Hidan replied, "I don't think so, but fucking Kakuzu here thinks he is. That little shit is probably pissing his pants right about now."

The sound of echoed footsteps caught their attention and they saw a man blooded and cut up walked out and collapsed dying in front of the three. Naruto walked out after, his appearance hadn't changed, but he had a custom eyepatch that covered the right side of his face leaving only his nose, left eye, mouth, and jawline visible. Naruto was wearing purple ninja pants, a white obi sash around his waist, black closed toed sandals, and a black long sleeved shirt. He was covered in blood and had his black mamba blade in one hand. His left eye seemed devoid of any life, but he walked over to the three and said, "Mission accomplished."

Kisame began to chuckle saying, "Well, well it seems that you actually did it." Hidan was actually impressed that he followed through with it and despite all the blood on his body the kid didn't even have a single scratch on him.

Kakuzu approached Naruto and said, "It seems that eye is actually useful."

He absently placed his hand over his eye patch and responded, "It works like a charm and Madara-teme was right about this eye…. Not only is there no blind spot, but I can tell the person's elemental affinity by just looking at them and I can control my own affinity to it's fullest potential." Naruto made his black mamba disappear back into his tattoo seal and asked the three, "What's next?"

Kakuzu placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder saying, "Now… the real training begins."

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* One Week Later: Iwagakure *

The jounins were in a circle around the gennins leaving them in the center so they could protect them should something happen. Getting closer to Iwa they happened upon the rendezvous team that led them to their village. They actually passed through a mountain to get to the village itself as it was surrounded by mountains and when they saw the village the gennins were in awe at how the village was totally different from their village. Buildings were built on the mountain cliffs, many bridges connected many buildings and upon closer inspection all the buildings seemed to be made up of rock and stone.

The group was then greeted by yet another Iwa nin, the man was a very tall brawny man, he had dark hair that ends in a kind of ponytail, a bulbous nose, and a beard. The Iwa nin attire is a red uniform with a left sleeve and a right lapel and a brown flack jacket.

Arashi and Kakashi approached the man and saluted him and they received a salute back. Arashi calmly asked, "Hello sir. I'm sure your aware of our Konoha unit and the names of the jounins and gennins attending the Chunnin Exam this year?"

The Iwa ninja smirked and said, "Yes we did. My name is Kitsuchi and I'll be escorting your unit to the hotel our kage has set up for the Leaf nins, he asks also that if your ninjas wish to walk around the village to alert one of the Iwa nins nearby to escort you."

Kakashi replied nonchalantly, "That won't be a problem Kitsuchi-san." Kakashi and Arashi walked back to the leaf nins and told them what's gonna happen and they all walked together to the hotel. Haru let her eyes wander and she saw people trying to sell objects for a ridiculous amount of money and that's when she remembered how her father told her that Iwa is in a economic disaster right now because of the Third Shinobi War, she just didn't realize how bad it was until she saw that a lot of kids were on the street begging for money.

Arashi asked their escort, "Might I ask when Iwa plans to start the exams?"

"No harm in asking. We plan on starting in two days and by that time the rest of the contestants should be here." Kitsuchi explained and he stopped in front of a building and said, "This is where you'll be staying. I'm sorry to say that because of the times our village is facing you'll need to bunk up with your teams, the rooms can fit up to two teams so choose who's going to bunk with who."

Before any of the gennins could say anything Arashi spoke first, "That will not be a problem Kitsuchi-san. Our ninjas will be happy with what they are given and we will happily receive whatever room your giving us." Kitsuchi bowed to them and took his leave telling them to go into the lobby and decide the groups who will share rooms and to relax since they've had a very long journey.

Arashi directed the ninjas into the hotel and everyone got together on deciding who's sleeping in groups. Kurenai and a few other jounins thought it was a wise idea to pair the girls up with the female jounins and the men sleep in groups as well. When everything was settled Arashi found out that a whole floor was left to the leaf nins and that the other floors were designated to the other village participants and that the rule was that if any from another village stepped foot on another floor you were instantly disqualified and will be forced to leave the village along with your team. No exceptions.

Everyone started to walk to the stairs, but Haru stopped when she heard two ninjas speaking about something that involved with what she was. She could see two ninjas talking to each other trying to be secretive, but obviously weren't paying attention to their surroundings.

"Yeah the Tsuchikage is pissed. That goddamn jinchuriki scum left the village and now our ANBU and tracking teams are sent out to find him."

The other nin looked upset at the news, "That bastard Roshi thinks he'll get away with this treason, but he'll soon see Lord Tsuchikage's wrath. He'll rip that monster from his body and put it in another one who's deserving of that power."

Haru was hidden behind a pillar listening to the conversation, but didn't get to hear the rest when she felt someone grab her shoulder, she turned to see who it was and was relieved to see that it was her brother who looked upset, "Haru stay with the group and your lucky I caught you and not one of the Iwa nins."

"Gomen aniki, but those two were talking about-"

He cut her off before she could finish, "Haru! Leave it alone it has nothing to do with the leaf nins, so don't go snooping around and remember what father said." Haru looked saddened that she upset her older brother, but Arashi calmed his tone and patted her on the head, "Look let's just go upstairs and get you settled in with Kurenai and your group okay? You all have to get your heads ready for the exams." Haru smiled again and followed her brother up the stairs to the floor designated for the leaf nins.

Grouping with Kurenai's group was Hinata, Haru, Sakura, Ino, and three more girls from their graduating class and finally TenTen. They were all free to roam about the floor they stay on, but that was it and food was delivered to them by the hotel's service paid by the Tsuchikage. Some of the jounins were a bit hesitant to eat the food let alone have the gennins eat it, but if something happened to any of them then there would be yet another war and right now Iwa couldn't afford to get into another war with Konoha.

Kurenai looked in the corner and saw Haru sitting in her chair fidgeting and mentally sighed thinking to herself, 'Arashi was right when cooped up in a room with nowhere to go she starts to get irritated.' Haru stood up from her chair and asked Kurenai, "Kurenai-sensei is it okay if I at least go into the lobby to move around a bit?"

"You can move around in the hallway what's the difference?"

Haru crossed her arms and explained, "Because the doors down there are made of glass and I could at least see out them and theres more room to move about than in the hallway."

The jounin didn't looked convinced and was again going to tell her that the hallway would just have to do, but Ino spoke up next, "Actually sensei I'd like to go into the lobby as well to get some decent walk around room."

Before Kurenai could object Sakura, Hinata, and TenTen voiced that they would like to go downstairs as well to just move about. With nothing else to do in the room Kurenai caved and asked the other three girls if they'd like to go as well to which they said yes. Kurenai gathered the girls and they all went into the lobby and instantly Haru ran about getting her leg muscles working. Kurenai warned her to be careful so that she doesn't hit or run into someone.

TenTen ran up to Haru and both girls pulled out some kunais and got into a little sparring match with each other trying their best to stay away from the employees who watched from a distance. Sakura, Ino and the other girls walked around the lobby while Hinata sat with her sensei watching Haru and TenTen work out.

Kurenai nudged Hinata in her side and asked, "Hinata-chan the weather is very nice today don't you agree?" Hinata looked surprised but caught on and activated her byakugan, usually this was a code for when they were indoors for her to use her byakugan. Hinata scanned around the building and stood up facing her sensei and away from the front doors and did a few recognizable handsigns that Kurenai taught her.

The jounin thought to herself, 'Twelve ANBU surround the building. It seems we aren't breaking any rules as they haven't stopped Haru or TenTen yet, so this is a test to see if any other ninjas from the other villages try and fight each other?' Kurenai nodded to who Hinata who sat down and deactivated her byakugan again watching the two girls battle it out.

Haru ducked under TenTen and started spinning her body and trying to kick at her, but TenTen blocked the kicks and retaliated by trying to kick her back. Haru again twisted herself dodging TenTen's kick, getting back to her feet she dashed forward and chopped TenTen's wrist hard enough to knock the kunai out of her hand, but what she didn't count on was the kunai flying into the air and heading to someone.

The blonde kunoichi saw it and dashed to grab it before that could happen, but before that kunai could hit the person Kurenai was already there catching the kunai before it could hit him. Haru stopped when she saw Kurenai and ran over to the guy it almost hit bowing her head she said, "Gomen I didn't mean for that to happen it was an accident."

Kurenai stared at the boy before her, he was obviously a Suna nin based off of his attire. When Haru looked up at him she saw his red hair and his eyes that held such malice in them and the tattoo above his left eye, he just gave her the creeps.

"Gaara what's going on here?"

Haru and Kurenai looked over the Suna nin's shoulder and saw a girl approach them. Gaara stared at Haru saying, "Nothing happened Temari."

Temari looked at the two kunoichis, but mostly at Haru and with a surprised look she said, "Hey by any chance are you Haru Namikaze?" Haru nodded, "Yes I am… Do I know either of you?"

"No, but isn't that what all the Namikaze members have is blonde hair and blue eyes?"

Haru had to agree to that, how many families in Konoha had blindingly blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked at Gaara again and apologized once more, "Gomen again we were just warming up for the exams and I wasn't looking when I hit the weapon so-"

Gaara cut her off, "Your the jinchuriki then?"

Haru and Kurenai's eyes widened, though it wasn't a secret they weren't expecting someone outside the village to instantly know that she was a jinchuriki. Temari looked to her little brother and said, "Gaara you shouldn't have said that."

"What does it matter anyway? I've heard tales about how the Namikaze's youngest is the jinchuriki, so why hide an obvious fact? I hold nothing against her for that." said Gaara who soon walked to the reception desk telling his oldest sister, "I'm going to the room now." As he passed Haru the two locked eyes for a brief moment before Gaara went to the reception desk to ask for his room key.

Temari apologized to Haru saying, "Gomen, you see our village knows about you being a jailer as our Kazekage instructed we know this should our ally need any assistance. I just wasn't expecting Gaara to just openly say that." Haru told her, "Don't worry about it Temari-san."

The Suna kunoichi turned to go catch up with her brother making quick haste. Haru turned to Kurenai asking her, "Sensei… Who was that kid? I felt a strange aura coming from him." Kurenai looked at Haru and said, "Forget about it Haru-chan… Just keep your distance from him until the exams understand?"

Haru could only nod at the kunoichi and left her side to go back to sparring with TenTen.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Two Days Later: Unknown Location *

Naruto was dodging many fireball attacks coming from Kakuzu and was doing so easier than even he anticipated. Naruto found some ground and ducked avoiding Hidan's scythe that came behind him, the blonde nin jumped away from the spot he was just at and avoided an arm that shot out of the ground trying to grab him. Backing away from them he saw Kisame crawl out of the ground giving him that toothy grin. Naruto again jumped out of the way avoiding a high pressured water stream that easily cut through the trees, ground, and rock. After escaping the water jutsu he looked in the direction of the attacker and saw Kakuzu standing on a tree limb and one of his masks was sticking out of his shoulder just now closing it's mouth.

Spinning around Naruto summoned out his black mamba sword and knocked the scythe away again, the weapon then retracted back to the tree line and Hidan came storming out and engaged Naruto in a battle. The little blonde was overpowered by Hidan's superior kenjutsu skills and was kicked in the stomach knocking him away. Recovering as quickly as he could he avoided Kisame's sword that almost slammed onto him.

Naruto skidded away and saw Kisame pull his sword out of the ground commenting on the battle so far, "Your reaction times have increased dramatically in two days, you'll need that if you are to become a swordsman." Naruto dusted himself off and saw Kakuzu jump from the trees to the ground. Kakuzu approached Naruto saying, "Those shadow clones that you have will be of great use as well."

Before anymore talk could be done Kisame, Kakuzu, and Hidan looked to the sky at the same time. Naruto knew what this meant… Pain was contacting them.

Kisame smiled and said, "Looks like Naruto is coming with me." Kakuzu told Naruto, "Me and Hidan are going on a mission to Iwagakure and we'll be back soon. Kisame will overlook your training until I return." after he got done talking both Kakuzu and Hidan disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kisame slung his sword over his shoulder saying to Naruto, "Get ready gaki."

"Where are we going?" Naruto asked.

Kisame turned around and started walking off, "We're gonna get you one of the original swords of my village. You'll make Kushimaru Kuriarare proud." Naruto didn't get it but followed after Kisame obediently.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Same Time: Iwagakure *

The Leaf gennins walked out of the hotel room they were in and told by the jounins to go straight to the training area. The Konoha Twelve walked in a larger group ahead of the ninjas they didn't really know. All of them were escorted their by Arashi and the Iwa nin they saw yesterday. The jounins needed to go to the observation building where the rest of the jounins would wait for the exams to start and end.

Haru and Hinata talked to each other quietly, "Haru-chan what do you think the exams will be like?"

"Dunno… From what I know each Chunnin Exams in each village are different."

Choji heard the two saying nervously, "I hope it's nothing too scary."

Lee tossed his arm around Choji's shoulder and shouted, "Do not worry my friend I am sure that you will do great! Just let your youth explode and you'll do just fine!" Lee turned to Sakura saying, "Sakura-san shall protect you during these exams! You need not fear!"

Sakura groaned mentally, but faked a smile to Lee.

Arashi and Kitsuchi talked to each other about the exams and when Minato would be coming to Iwa for the exams. They came to a wide open rocky field and looking around they saw gennins from Kirigakure, Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and some of the smaller villages. Kitsuchi told the Konoha gennins, "The Tsuchikage will be here soon to start the exams. Your free to walk amongst the other gennins, but are prohibited from starting a fight. Doing so will result in an automatic disqualification and your ejection from the village, we here in Iwa take these exams very seriously."

Kitsuchi told Arashi, "I'll need you to overlook with me to make sure no troublemakers start fights." Arashi nodded and followed Kitsuchi so that they walk around making sure the gennins don't fight.

Shikamaru looked around at the Iwa gennins that were starring at them like they were strange beings from another world, but that was to be expected since relations between Iwa and Konoha were still rocky (no pun intended). Neji also noticed this, "The Iwa gennins are sure to target the Leaf nins first out of everyone else."

Not scared Lee said, "Fear not Leaf nins are no pushovers!" Haru got into the spirit as well, "Yeah no way some Iwa nins can beat me!"

"So you must be Haru Namikaze?"

The Konoha Twelve turned around and saw a woman standing before them. She had short black hair, pupil-less pink eyes, she wore a long, red kimono with a sleeve on her right arm missing as well the bottom left side of the kimono, the brown flak jacket, fishnet tights and shorts over them. Haru scratched the top of her head asking, "It seems a few people know me, but do I know you?"

"No, my name is Kurotsuchi. I'll be the instructor for this portion of the exams." She placed her hands on her hips and looked Haru up and down and then placed her finger on her chin, "Well you have your family's appearance and you certainly have that dumb look like your father and brother when confused."

Haru looked pissed and shouted, "I don't have a stupid look on my face!" then she stopped and looked at her friends asking, "Do I?"

Immediately most of them started to chuckle nervously, rub their heads out of embarrassment, and look away from her gaze with most of them saying either, "Well kind of.", "I don't really pay attention,", or "It's hardly noticeable."

This made the blonde kunoichi hang her head in depression. Kurotsuchi cleared her throat and said, "I do hope however Haru-chan that we do eventually get to know each other." The sound of a horn caught the entire crowds attention and everyone looked to where the sound was coming from. Kurotsuchi sighed and said, "Looks like we'll be starting soon. Gotta go kiddies!" and she waved by and jumped off to the person who had everyone's eyes.

Arashi looked at the new crowd that appeared and saw a man that he only seen once in his lifetime and that one time was enough for him, "… Onoki… the Sandaime Tsuchikage."

Kitsuchi joined the kage and said in a loud voice, "Everyone pay attention! This is our lord kage! This is Onoki the Sandaime Tsuchikage of Iwagakure!" The entire area was mostly in silence.

Onoki wasn't what the gennins expected at all, but he had to of been the tsuchikage for a reason. The very small old man walked calmly to face all the ninjas, "This is what the villages allow to be gennins now? They're all nothing but pebbles… Anyway let's get this over with." The kage cleared his throat and said, "Thank you all for coming to the exams this year in our village! These exams are to determine whether or not you are ready for the next step to becoming a ninja! I don't expect all of you to become ninjas! In fact I don't expect more than 89% of you will survive and in which case I think that the remaining 11% will possibly even go insane, but that's just my call! The first portion of these exams will test not your knowledge as a ninja… but your teamwork!"

The old man pointed to the tallest mountain they could all see and shouted, "That is your destination! That mountain is called, 'Mt. Oteage! The reason for the name is because most abandon all hope of making up the mountain let alone get near it's base! You will cross the forest at the base and transverse through the mine and make it into the safety zone where our Iwa nins await you!"

Everyone thought that this would be easy until Onoki spoke again, "However! You have a deadline of two days to complete this task and any who do not make it into the safety zone within a full forty-eight hours will be disqualified!"

One of the gennins shouted, "Lord Tsuchikage do we get a map or something?"

Onoki then laughed and grabbed his sides trying to catch his breath, "Hahahaha! Map! What map! When your a ninja you must expect the unexpected at all times! You can't always count on a map when your in enemy territory! Use your skills your villages taught you and you'll most likely leave losing only an arm or a leg!" He turned to leave, but stopped mid way saying, "Oh and by the way! Inside the forest lays many animals of various sizes and the same goes for insects! I should also warn you that there is a flower inside the forest that emits a very potent hallucinogen and the slightest smell of it will entrap you! Remember you have forty-eight hours to complete this step!" After he said that he walked off and Kitsuchi and Kurotsuchi stepped forward in front of the crowd of gennins.

Kitsuchi shouted, "Every squad is to go to the tent located over there!" he pointed to a few tents being set up by some Iwa nins, "Register your team and you'll receive these!" He held small rock in his hand and explained, "This is an illumination rock! The point of keeping one of these is simple, this rock is fairly rare in Iwagakure and it shines a bright color when it's close to the main source which is located at the safety zone, this is your only assistance when you reach the mine entrance! However should you fail to pass up the rich chakra soil from where this rock is mostly found then the stone will lose it's light and it cannot be re-illuminated unless you know how."

He looked to Kurotsuchi to explain the rest, "Our Iwa nins will verify the stones in the safe zone and decide to let you in… If you lose the stone or it loses it's illumination… then you fail immediately! We just taken the stones so they have a forty-eight hour lighting before it loses it! Oh and by the way!" she paused for a dramatic effect, "The animals in the forest are attracted by the lighting of these rocks like a moth to a flame! Once they see even the slightest light from this rock, then the only way to stop them is by killing them! Good luck kiddies!"

Kitsuchi pointed to the tents and shouted, "Go and receive your orders from the Iwa nins at the tents!"

Few ninjas started filing over to the tents to register everything. As they walked over Hinata looked over her shoulder and saw a few ninja teams walk over to the Iwa jounins and they looked discouraged. Though at a distance she was taught to read lips and could figure out that all said that the exams were to extreme for their first time and that they wish to quit. A few of the Iwa jounins looked to have a smirk on their faces and scoffed at the gennins and escorted them back to the village.

She was brought back to her friends when Kiba shouted, "Iwa nins are nuts to do this! This is only the first portion and already it's hardcore!"

Shino told Kiba, "Just relax, we get the stone we avoid the other competition and get to the safety zone hopefully without trouble." Kiba shouted, "Easy for you to say!"

Haru, Sakura, and Sasuke walked to one tent together waiting in line to register. Sasuke looked over at Shino, Kiba, and Hinata's team and told his team, "Those three have the advantage. Kiba can easily detect danger with that nose of his, Shino's insects could also be of great use for perimeter purposes, and Hinata's eyes are perfect for the mine portion…"

Sakura said nervously, "How are we suppose to pass this then? Do we team up with their team?"

Sasuke shook his head, "Remember Sakura that these are the Chunnin Exams… It's every shinobi and kunoichi for themselves in here. We just have to come up with a plan of our own to navigate the mines." Haru was thinking about ways they could get through the exams, but came up with nothing.

"Hey blondie!"

Haru turned around and saw an Iwa gennin approach her. It was a girl with violet color hair, black eyes, and the standard Iwa attire, "You're a Namikaze right?"

Haru glared at the girl not liking the tone in her voice. The Iwa gennin was accompanied by her two teammates who were right behind her, "You don't look like your something special. Let me guess the little kage's daughter got a pass so she could pretend to be a ninja."

She was using all her strength not to hit this girl in front of her. The Iwa nin could see the fire in Haru's eyes and taunted her some more, "What happened to that traitor of a ninja Naruto Namikaze? From what my dad tells me that he attacked some leaf nins and escaped right out from under your guy's noses. Pathetic, how we ever lost that war to you tree huggers is beyond me."

Sasuke could see the guys behind this kunoichi snickering and when he looked at Haru he could see the steam practically radiating off of her and was ready to step in should something happen.

"Next!"

Sasuke and Sakura looked at the tent receptionist and saw that they were next in line. Sasuke grabbed Haru's wrist and said, "Let's go Haru they aren't worth it here… Wait till the exams start and you can pick them apart in there."

The Iwa kunoichi didn't know when to stop at this point especially when she saw the Uchiha logo on Sasuke's back, "Aren't you one of the last survivors of the Uchiha clan? Humph your not much either. What's your brother's name?… Itachi Uchiha? From what the rumors say is that he massacred that whole clan in one night… Some fearful clan they were to be killed off so easily."

Sasuke remained calm, but could feel Haru's arm shake.

"I said next! Approach the table or get out of line!"

Sakura looked at the irritated receptionist and said, "Haru-chan please not here."

Haru shook her arm free from Sasuke's grip and calmly walked up to the kunoichi and pointed a finger in her face saying in a very low and menacing tone, "You and me will settle this straight up in that forest. If your half the badass you wish you were, then you'll come fine me in there and fight me! No words, no back up, just you and me one on one."

"I think I can handle you blondie." She scoffed at Haru and her and her team walked by Team 7 and to the tent cutting ahead of them. Sakura looked at Haru and could only see her back and said, "Haru-chan I'm proud of you! You controlled your anger!" She walked up to her friend and hugged her. Haru smiled a bit and said, "Thanks… Well let's just get this over with already."

Sakura could sense the uneasiness in her friend's voice, but didn't press the issue. They waited for the Iwa team that cut ahead of them to leave then they went up to register. Arashi watched that whole scene before him and couldn't help but smile at his sister, she was growing up, he knew that had this been the Haru from a few months ago that Iwa gennin would've been in big trouble. Though this proved that she grew a little, she still had a long way to go.

When they got to the front Sakura handled the papers and signed in everything for her friends. Sasuke was amazed that she knew so much about him, "How do you know this much about us Sakura-chan?" The pink haired kunoichi blushed since he added the honorific 'chan' to her name making her happy, "Well I just remember a few things from what you guys say, plus I when you guys were in the hospital I looked over your medical clipboards and memorized the things written on it."

Haru was impressed as well, she knew about her weight, height, blood type, and other things and she knew Sasuke's as well. After Sakura finished the Iwa nin looked over the work and handed her the small rock that had a paper around it and stressed this part, "Now listen, the rock is inside that paper which keeps it's illumination bright, but once that paper is removed the rock will then have the forty-eight minute time limit. Also we need you to cut yourself on place a drop of blood on that paper."

Sasuke pulled out a kunai and pricked his finger and let a drop of blood spill on the wrapped up rock, he passed the kunai to Haru and Sakura for them to do the same. Once the blood hit the paper it vanished making a seal. They were confused and asked the Iwa nin about it, but he refused to answer and told them to leave so he could go over the same thing with the next team.

Sasuke held the rock in his hand and told them, "I'll hold onto the rock so we don't lose it." Haru and Sakura didn't argue and instead sat and waited for the next part.

An hour went by and finally a horn sounded again and they saw Kitsuchi with Kurotsuchi standing together. Kitsuchi said, "Okay the exams will now begin! There is a fence surrounding the area and if you jump over the fence we will see this as that you quit and you will be taken out of the exams! Understand?" When he saw most of them nod he said, "If you fail to make it into the safe zone before the time limit is up we'll send in some hunter nins to find you and escort you back to your hotel to back up your belongings to leave! Now good luck to you and Kami be with you!"

Ten more Iwa nins jumped next to Kitsuchi and Kurotsuchi and all of them bit their fingers or lips making blood come out and all of them slammed their hands to the ground shouting out, "Transportation Jutsu!"

Arashi remembered seeing this jutsu and looked around seeing all the gennins disappear in a pop of smoke. He was impressed with the jutsu, but this move had one flaw and that was it's toll it takes on the chakra depending on the distance. After the gennins disappeared Arashi was approached by a Iwa ANBU nin that was bowing to him, "Namikaze-sama, the Tsuchikage requests that you meet him at the tower for a personal meeting."

The blonde ninja looked around and noticed that a lot of the jounins were leaving so there was no reason for him to stay anymore. He nodded and followed the ANBU to the Tsuchikage tower, but following behind them was Kurotsuchi and Kitsuchi.

* Mt. Oteage Forest *

Haru, Sasuke, and Sakura started to cough and wave their hands around moving the smoke out of their eyes and when they did they saw that they were surrounded by trees of great height and upon inspection of the trees they saw that they were fairly thin, but extremely tall. They looked around and saw that they ground was mostly void of any grass and mostly had rocky patches everywhere.

Sakura told them, "They used a teleportation jutsu to get us here. Look." Sakura bent down and so did her teammates and they saw a small black kanji on the ground and it then vanished. Haru stood up and said, "Can't tell if it's light out thanks to these trees."

Sasuke reached into his pocket and pulled out the rock and saw that the paper that wrapped up the rock was gone and now they could see the rock. It was red with faded black stripes going around it and a reddish light coming from it, but it wasn't very bright. Haru put her hands on her hips and said, "Some illumination rock, it's barely making a glow."

The pink haired kunoichi thought about it and said, "Maybe what they said was right, they did say the light gets brighter when we get to the main supply of rich soil."

Haru looked up at the tree and shouted, "Then let's find that mountain." She charged chakra to her feet and ran to one of the trees to run up it, but the second she her foot touched the tree it shot her back with enough force to send her flying into the other tree, but the moment she hit the tree it felt like she smacked into a brick wall.

Sakura and Sasuke ran to her worried asking if she was okay. "Yeah I'm fine guys. Damn that hurt!" she rubbed the back of her head and Sakura checked her out.

Sasuke taunted her, "Still don't know how to climb trees? Kakashi-sensei would be embarrassed." Before Haru could argue Sasuke charged chakra to his feet and tried running up it, but when his feet touched it his foot slid down it like there was something slippery on it and he smacked his face straight into the ground. Haru and Sakura were shocked and Sakura left her friend to check on her crush, "Sasuke-kun! Are you okay?"

"I'm okay Sakura-chan, what happened?" he asked rubbing his face. Sakura walked up to the tree and touched it and immediately felt a heat rising from the bark of the tree making her take her hand away, "I think this must be the tree that is turned into paper to determine your nature type."

Haru shouted, "What! Then what the hell happened when we touched it!'

Sakura thought about it and came to a conclusion, "I don't know, but I think that when any type of chakra is added to the bark it begins to send chakra back out into the elements it's made for." Looking at all the trees she continued, "I'm guessing when Haru did it that was the earth style knocking her away an when Sasuke-kun did it that was the water style making it impossible to climb. When I touched it the bark became hotter and hotter."

Sasuke closed his eyes and opened them again and activated his sharingan and looked at the trees, "The trees seem to be fluxing. Like the chakra in the trees are in constant movement, but how can it do this with so little chakra around."

"That's it!" Sakura shouted catching her team by surprise, "The soil in the ground! It must be supplying the chakra, it is rich with chakra!"

Haru and Sasuke looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders saying at the same time, "So?"

"So Sasuke-kun uses his sharingan to see which trees have the greatest fluctuation and we follow those to the mountain which has the richest soil!" Sakura said excitedly. Haru and Sasuke caught on after she said that, Haru hugged Sakura and said, "Sakura-chan I love you! What would we do without you!"

Sasuke watched the girls hug and thought, 'Sakura is very smart. I don't think Haru and I would've been able to make it to the mountain without her help.' Haru had her arm around Sakura's shoulder saying, "Let's get going then!"

Before she could ask Sasuke looked around and said, "I see these trees in this direction fluctuating more than the others."

"Lead the way!" said Haru. When they turned around they just now saw two giant panthers looking at them and they froze. These panthers were half the size of elephants and they looked hungry. Sasuke cursed that he didn't hear them, Haru moved in front of Sakura taking out her three sectional bo staff to defend her.

Haru still said happily though, "But first let's take care of these cats."

* Team 8 *

"Fang Passing Fang!"

Two cyclones ripped through a massive bear making it collapse to the ground dead. The two cyclones stopped spinning revealing two Kibas, one standing on top of the other. Hinata and Shino ran over to them and saw both the Kibas jumping for joy.

One Kiba erupted into smoke revealing itself to be Akamaru the whole time, "We did it buddy! Team 8 will definitely win this thing for sure!" As he celebrated Shino told Hinata, "Nice work back there, you saw that bear coming way before we sensed it."

Hinata looked embarrassed but said, "Arigatou, but it's because of your strategy and Kiba and Akamaru's power also."

"That's right Hinata-chan that's teamwork right there!" Kiba shouted, "Now about these weird ass trees? Your saying that we should follow the bigger one's Shino?"

"Yes. The center of it all should be where the most animals are and the lest likely where insects would go to absorb nutrients, so which leaves to bigger trees." He put his hands in his pockets and said, "However lets rest, with Hinata's sight she saw the fluctuation in the trees and I sent my bugs out to scout the location of the mountain. We have enough time to make it. No need to rush."

Kiba scratched his head and said, "I guess, but I'll set up a perimeter using this big bear's pheromones to scare the smaller guys away." Shino kind of winced, but you couldn't tell, "I don't think I wish to see how you would accomplish this."

The Inuzuka shuddered saying, "No you don't. Our clan uses this tactic to keep animals away from our camps when we are on missions and to mess up other insects as well. Please just turn away while I do this." Taking their teammate's advice Hinata and Shino turned away.

Meanwhile Shino and Hinata passed small talk, "Hinata-chan I can see that your more confident back there and not just then but also when the announcement that our team would be in the exams."

It was awkward for Hinata since Shino didn't really talk, but was happy that he noticed her change, "Arigatou Shino-kun… I'm hoping I become even more confident so that I can… well…" Shino sensed where this was going and said, "I understand, you don't have to say anymore."

The rest of the time it was quiet as they waited for Kiba to finish doing his job.

* Team 10 *

Ino was smiling happily saying, "How ironic that they summoned us by that flower." Shikamaru added, "How ironic is it that the kunoichi on our team runs a flower shop and knows practically every flower in the nations?"

She said with a tone of superiority, "It's a good thing that I researched the flowers in this area and went ahead and made some antidotes for the more poisonous ones. Your lucky to have me boys." Shikamaru groaned thinking, 'She'll never let us live this down now.'

Their concentration was broken when Choji crashed to the ground smiling, "I found the mountain!" He took a good breath and said, "You were right Shikamaru I was able to see the mountain by using my body expansion jutsu." Shikamaru told Choji to expand his legs to give them enough muscle to jump high into the air and above the canopy above. Choji pointed west saying, "The mountain is that way, but we have a long way to go."

Shikamaru thought about their situation and asked Ino, "Is there any way we could use the flowers to our advantage?" Ino stopped smiling and seriously thought about that possibility, "Well it's a long shot, but my kaa-san was able to convert the Dragon's Fire Lotus poison into a weapon. If she could do it then I could try."

"How much time will it take Ino?" asked Shikamaru. Ino looked at the flower next to them it was a blindingly orange color with red pattern designs on the petals, the flowers were called the 'Daydreamer' because of the hallucinogen caused by the pollen it let's out. She picked the flower and said, "Give me about two hours to properly coat our weapons with it. That's about all I know how to do."

"Alright sounds good. Choji and I will set up a perimeter to make sure that no one gets near us."

Ino nodded and picked a few more flowers to get to work. Shikamaru told Choji to wait there while he set up traps.

* Team Guy *

Lee and Neji just got done beating a group of rain ninja that were wearing oxygen masks and jumpsuits. TenTen walked up and pulled out a chain and tied them up to make sure they didn't escape, Lee searched the ninjas and found their rock and was about to crush it in his hand, but Neji stopped him saying, "No, incase we lose ours or something happens to it we could use it as a back up or incase we need to use it as a bargaining chip."

TenTen told Lee, "He's right Lee just hold onto it until we need it." Lee did as he was told and put the rock in his ninja pouch. Neji activated his byakugan and looked around the area, "I can see the mountain, but I also see enemy ninjas moving about. We're pretty far from the base, but if we go along the river bank near here we'll make it."

Not liking that idea TenTen said, "Neji that's crazy! The first place anyone goes to is the river!" Lee agreed with her, "TenTen is right, if we go there we'll be sitting ducks if our enemies see us."

Neji explained, "They won't. With my eyes I'll see them, but also the hasty aren't looking for ninjas they'll avoid them as much as possible and be too busy advancing to the mountain and they'll eventually hit other ninjas along the way. By that logic if we do run into any on our way to the mountain than they'll be too weak to fight us."

"Well I guess that makes sense." said TenTen, she looked at Lee who shrugged his shoulders, "We have no choice Lee it's our only plan. Waiting here thinking of another one puts us in danger since some ninjas could be coming our way." Neji told his team to follow him and they did they started heading north east to the river, but made sure to avoid all ninjas that they might encounter along the way.

* Team Baki *

Gaara stood calmly looking at a massive ball of sand in front of him that hovered in the air, he held his hand out and the sand started to float back into his gourd dropping a dead body of a massive panther to the ground dead. Once the sand retreated back into his gourd he placed a cork on the gourd sealing the sand inside of it.

Temari and Kankuro walked over to Gaara both smiling. Kankuro looked at the bloody panther saying, "They weren't joking when they said that the animals here were huge." Temari looked over and saw Gaara starting to walk off, "Gaara wait up!" she ran over to her little brother leaving Kankuro to scowl at Gaara thinking, 'He thinks he's better than everyone else.' then calmly ran over to join his siblings

Gaara said while walking, "I used my Third Eye jutsu to look above the trees. This is the way to the mountain." Temari and Kankuro smiled seeing that they'll pass these exams faster than they initially thought. The three siblings headed south to the mountain to get this overwith.

* Tsuchikage Tower *

Inside the Tsuchikage's office was Arashi, Onoki, Kurotsuchi, and Kitsuchi. The old kage was at his desk pushing some paperwork into his desk while the three stood in front of his desk with Arashi in the middle. After shifting around his desk the old man pulled out a bottle of sake and two cups, but didn't pour it, "Help yourself."

Arashi looked at the drink and said, "No thank you Tsuchikage-sama. Alcohol and me don't like each other."

"Suit yourself. How's the old man?" asked Onoki.

"Not so good considering what happened." Arashi said his eyes on the old man. Onoki knew why, "I am sorry to hear about your little brother leaving your village. It came as a surprise to me when I saw it in the bingo book, it seems both our village and your village have a common issue. Your brother left and our jinchuriki left the village."

Arashi widened his eyes in a bit surprise, "Your willing to tell me that?"

Onoki grabbed one of the cups and poured himself a bit of sake and took a sip, "Why not? After all Konoha and Iwa will become allies soon enough."

Greatly confused since Arashi heard nothing about any kind of alliance between Iwa and Konoha. Onoki could see the confusion in his eyes and made to clarify it, "Me and your father sought peace between both nations as we've been fighting each other in glorious battle for three wars and it was time that enemies became friends…" Onoki pointed to Kurotsuchi making the blonde jounin look in her direction, "Kurotsuchi is my granddaughter and a very powerful kunoichi."

Kurotsuchi and Arashi locked eyes with one another starring at the other for sometime before the kage spoke again, "We hoped the two of you would marry that way this rivalry between nations would finally end. With your union we can finally stop this… It seems however your father didn't tell you."

Arashi acted calmly and put his hands behind his back and walked to the window and looked out of it to the foreign village and took in all of this information. He hung his head and couldn't understand why this had to happen now, "Tsuchikage-sama, allow me to speak with my father about this first. If our leaf nins make it to the finals he'll come to watch and I'll talk to him then." He turned around to face the Iwa nins fully, "By then I'll have your answer Tsuchikage-sama. Don't misunderstand this isn't a 'no' it's just that this is sudden and I wasn't expecting this on my mission."

"I understand Arashi-san take as much time as you need. If you are returning to the testing field let my granddaughter escort you back."

Arashi looked at Kurotsuchi who smiled back at him, "Arigatou Tsuchikage-sama. Shall we Kurotsuchi-chan?"

She smiled at him and lightly bowed her head, "Of course Arashi-kun." Both headed for the door and left leaving the Iwa kage and high ranked jounin alone. Kitsuchi spoke to his kage, "Tou-san…" at this point Onoki knew that they weren't talking as ninjas, but family at this point.

Onoki cracked a smile and said, "Don't misread this, I'm not doing this as some apology for what happened twelve years ago. This is purely political." Kitsuchi sighed and ran his hand through his hair saying, "I hope that this doesn't come back to bite us in the ass."

"I hope it doesn't neither. We must find Kakuzu and Naruto before Konoha does and soon otherwise the peace that I'm looking for disappears along with our village." Said Onoki, "Our village needs this union if we are to survive."

Kitsuchi could understand the move he was making since their village was in a rut right now and these exams are one of the few ways they'll get a massive amount of money, "Then shall I send out a larger team to search for him?"

He shook his head telling Kitsuchi, "No not yet, wait until the leaf nins return home." Onoki jumped out of his seat, "Send a team however to find Roshi and bring him back to the village and make sure Han and Haru Namikaze don't come near each other… including that he doesn't go near the Kazekage's boy either."

Kitsuchi nodded and bowed to the old man, "Hai Tsuchikage-sama." and left leaving Onoki alone. The old man grabbed the sake bottle and downed the remaining content saying out loud, "This has to work."

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Same Time: Konoha *

Hana was walking around the village with her three ninken and was bored so she decided to go to get something at a dango shop that Anko took her to once. Arashi would be gone for a little more than a month for the exams leaving her alone to think about what she'll do when she sees him, she was to be one of the escorts for the Hokage when he goes to Iwagakure for the finals. Right now she was searching for a gift to give him since he always buys her something. She sat outside with a few dangos eating, she looked at her dogs and saw them laying on the ground sleeping all three bunched up together.

After eating the dangos she held the chopstick in her hand about to put it on her plate, but before she could the chopstick split in half taking her by surprise she dropped the chopstick and looked to her dogs and saw all three were standing up and growling at the chopsticks like it was a threat. She grabbed the napkins she took with her and the chopsticks throwing them in the garbage telling her dogs, "Come on we're going home-" She was stopped mid sentence when she was about to leave she saw Kushina standing a few feet away from her though she had a smile on her face it looked forced.

"Hello Kushina-san." Hana greeted her. Kushina said in response to the greeting, "Hello Hana-chan. I was hoping that you'd come back with me to the Hokage mansion, there is something that I want to talk to you about… Please?"

Hana didn't understand, but agreed to go with her and she followed the former kunoichi to her home. Kushina lead the way staying quiet all the while thinking, 'Hana… please don't hate Arashi… Though Minato said to let Arashi tell you I don't think this should wait.' Kushina led her to the home about to give Hana the worst news she could possibly hear.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

I've had a very slow month, a lot has happened and I was overwhelmed. I'm sorry that if this first part of the exams is identical to Konoha's second part of the exams it was all I could come up with since this was partly the reason for the delay, however the second half of the exams will get better. I don't know when I can get the next chapter out, but I'll try to get it probably next weekend if everything works out as I planned (most likely not) so we'll see what happens. Again if you have any questions I'll try to answer them without revealing the future of the story. I decided that I'll give you all more glimpses into Naruto's training than I initially intended since I've gotten many requests to do so. Hopefully you like the glimpses of his training. Thank you for reading and have a very nice day (hopefully a better one than mine).


	25. Survive Mt Oteage

Chapter Twenty Five : Survive Mt. Oteage

Sorry for not updating sooner, but my family needs my attention. Things on my end have taken a bad turn and I'm sad to say that it's impacting my family greatly at this point, this will hinder writing time, but **I AM IN NO WAY STOPPING THIS STORY.** I will continue writing it's just that I'm needed with my family right now. IF this chapter seems dull or rushed please forgive me I haven't been exactly in a writing mood what with going on over here. I'm hoping this all calms down so I can get back to finishing this story the right way. Thank you all for waiting, so don't let me stop rambling. Enjoy.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Mt. Oteage Forest *

Sasuke, Sakura, and Haru walked through the forest following the trail of chakra emitted from the trees. The two panthers weren't much of a challenge since Sasuke and Haru disposed of them fairly quick. They wanted to conserve energy until they got to the final stretch of the forest at which point they plan to run like hell to the mines. Along the way Sakura would think up different strategies once they reach the mines.

With the trees being enormously tall it was impossible to tell if it was dark or not, but judging by the limited amount of light at the ground it must be close to dusk. Which meant that time was slipping from them and so was their chances of advancing to the next portion of the exams. As they kept walking Haru groaned out loud, "This sucks! We've been walking for what seems like hours!"

Sasuke looked at her with his sharingan still activated, "Because it has been hours since we beat those panthers. I'll need to rest soon my eyes are taking a bit of my chakra through extended use and I'm loosing some energy to keep this up."

After hearing that Sakura suggested, "Then let's take a break now. We'll need our strength if we run into any enemies along the way." When all three sat down Sasuke turned his sharingan off and felt an enormous weight was lifted off of his shoulders. Sakura reached into her ninja pouch and pulled out three energy bars and handed two to her teammates.

Haru and Sasuke took them and heard Sakura say, "My kaa-san made these herself. It's like a mixture of a food pill and the energy bars sold at the shops. I've had one of these before and they don't taste good, but they work."

Haru snagged a bite out of hers first and Sakura was right, they didn't taste the best, but right now she was starving. Sasuke and Sakura took bites out of theirs and somewhat making a face at the taste of it, but they started to feel their strength return to them albeit slowly. Haru devoured the last of her bar and asked, "Ok so what's next?"

Sakura suggested, "I think we should travel some more and then rest for a few hours to give our bodies a chance to recover naturally. Sleep in shifts and set up a defensive perimeter in case of intruders." Sasuke liked the plan and got up, "I'll set the traps then. You two relax for a moment and when I'm done setting up I'll take first watch."

Haru jumped to her feet grinning, "We shouldn't worry about taking turns. I'll summon up a lot of shadow clones." Sakura told her, "Haru we can't have them bunch up with us otherwise we could be easily seen. Spread them out so that they are in ear shout of each other." Haru agreed and they watch Sasuke reach into his ninja pouch and pulled out a scroll that. He waved it at them and said, "I'll be back."

Haru and Sakura laid down to wait for Sasuke all the while remaining vigilant of their surroundings.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Dusk: Kirigakure *

Naruto was sitting atop a tall mountain looking at the village below him. Kisame told him to stay put while went to get the sword. Due to boredom Naruto used his newly acquired eye to get a better look at the village and it wasn't as big as Konoha, but it had a number of deadly ninjas that'd easily rival the best of Konoha. Naruto remained aware of his surroundings in case any ninjas came up to him, but so far it seems that he wasn't able to see many ninjas due to the mist being thick in some areas.

A very familiar sound caught his attention, it was the sound of a summoning beast. Naruto looked to next to where he was seated and saw Gamakichi sitting next to him, "Gamakichi-san. It's been awhile hasn't it?"

"Yup it has boss… I came to tell ya something that my pops found out about through Jiraiya-sama…"

Naruto leaned in listening intently on this. Gamakichi said, "It looks like your old man has sent Jiraiya-sama on a mission to find out some info on Orochimaru and he found something out. Orochimaru placed a few sound ninjas in the Iwa Chunnin Exams this year for spying."

"What's that snake planning? I met him only once and during that time I had this feeling about him." said Naruto. Gamakichi jumped into Naruto's lap continuing, "You should also know that the elders have set up the summoning seal to act differently from before. I've been set so that no matter what you do to summon you'll only be able to summon me into battle. The other toads don't wish to be summoned by you boss."

This didn't shock the blonde in anyway. It would be easy for the toads to send Naruto back to Konoha, all they would need to do is reverse summon him to their home world and then summon him to Konoha. The reason why they don't is because that would be a breach in their summoning contract and they can't afford that… that is unless Naruto does something to upset the toads. Naruto pulled out a slip of paper and told him, "Take this with you. Read it then you'll know what to do, I trust you with this Gamakichi. One mistake and Konoha will swarm on me and things will turn into a battle. I can't risk that… not yet at least."

Gamakichi swallowed the message and said, "Don't worry boss you can count on me." Naruto pet the toad before saying, "Also you'll have to wait for me to summon you. I can't have you popping up out of the blue like this." Gamakichi gave Naruto a salute and then disappeared in a pop of smoke. Naruto stood up and looked behind him and waited, then from the mist Kisame jumped forth grinning.

Kisame tossed a sword at Naruto's feet. Naruto looked at the blade and saw that it was a longsword that greatly resembles a large needle with no guard on it, with a long length of thin wire that resembles thread tied to the bottom of the sword. Kisame told him, "Take it. That's the Nuibari, it can pierce anything and stitch them together with that long thin tread there."

Naruto grabbed the sword and looked over it some more and like the overall weight of it. Swinging it around Naruto said, "I like it. If I input my chakra nature into it I can increase it's capabilities past it's full potential."

Kisame walked over to Naruto and said, "That's good to hear, because we got company." Surrounding Naruto were four ANBU ninjas all with their hands resting on their tanto weapons strapped to their backs. The fishman told Naruto, "If you don't kill them, then they'll capture us…."

The ANBU captain shouted, "Kisame Hoshigaki, Naruto Namikaze! You two are under arrest! Surrender your weapons or die!"

There was a moment of silence, but Naruto aimed the tip of Nuibari at one of the ANBU saying, "Come and get me." The ANBU ninjas rushed at the two rogue ninjas ready to kill them… the thing was Naruto was just as eager to try out his new weapon and a good blood bath would send a message to the other villages about his battling prowess.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Nightfall: Iwagakure Border *

Kakuzu and Hidan made it to the border of Iwa quicker than they thought. Hidan asked his partner, "So the overall scheme is to kill the sound guys before they get to the jinchuriki that are taking part in these exams."

"Yes. From what Sasori found out it seems that the Ichibi, Gobi, and Kyuubi are in this village. His spy in Orochimaru's lair has revealed that he wants to kill at least one of the jinchuriki to disrupt our plans and as per our orders we are not to capture or harm them in any way." Kakuzu clarified to him. When Kakuzu didn't hear Hidan say anything he asked him about it, "Your surprisingly silent."

Hidan looked at Kakuzu and said, "The fuck are you talking about?"

Kakuzu didn't look at him, but he did say, "Normally at the sound of news where we are limited on what we can do you always voice your utter dislike for it."

He hadn't realized it himself, but Kakuzu was right. Hidan said, "I just want to get this mission over with okay! Once we teach that kid how to be a real ninja than things can go back to the way they were where we hunted down the jinchuriki."

Kakuzu and Hidan didn't speak after that and walked in silence getting closer to the mountain village.

* Morning: Mt. Oteage Forest *

Haru, Sasuke, and Sakura were up and stretching. They decided to wait till it got more light out and from what they could tell the forrest floor was a tad brighter than from when they first started. Feeling rejuvenated Sasuke activated his sharingan and Haru dispelled all of her clones that were still in the area and then the trio began their journey to get to the mountain.

Sasuke led the group following the trees with the strongest pulses, and the deeper the got the more animals they saw. Sasuke made sure to keep the rock hidden as he took what Kurotsuchi said highly and so far most of the animals were keeping their distance possibly just defending their territory, so as long as they stayed away the safer they were.

Sasuke stopped and said, "I think we're here. I can see the ground illuminating with chakra as well." Sakura grabbed some soil and examined it and by focusing her chakra into the dirt she was getting a strong reaction, "Sasuke-kun is right. It think this is the base, but we need to find the mine entrance."

Haru brought her hands together saying, "I got this! Shadow Clone jutsu!" a huge cloud of smoke appeared around them and there were twelve clones, "Okay group up into six and one group go that way and the other head into the opposite direction and look for a mine entrance or anything that could look like one. When you find it dispel yourselves and we'll take it from there."

The clones followed orders and grouped up and ran into opposite directions to find the mine entrance. Haru said to them, "We really make a great team don't we?"

Sasuke and Sakura smiled at her, but Sasuke suddenly dashed in front of Sakura holding a kunai shouting, "Come out now!" Haru ran next to Sasuke and looked in the same direction he did holding two kunais.

"Looks like we've been found out."

Haru, Sakura, and Sasuke saw three figures emerge from the darkened tree line seeing those Iwa gennins that were at the sign in tent who tried to start trouble with Haru.

"You didn't forget that we have a score to settle right blondie?"

Moving away from her group Haru replied, "I didn't forget! Now that no instructors can get in my way I'll just rip you up until there's nothing left!"

"Big talk for a shorty like you." She looked at her two teammates and they backed off. Sasuke and Sakura still remained on guard and the Uchiha whispered to Sakura, "Sakura-chan, I want you to be the support. I can take the two Iwa gennins back there, but I'll need you to give us backup in case they are being tricky." Sakura nodded and stayed behind Sasuke.

Haru pulled out her three sectional bo staff and said, "Let's get this over with!"

The female Iwa nin took a fighting stance waiting for a moment to strike. Haru wasn't willing to wait and instead jumped to the kunoichi swinging her bo staff with precision.

Sasuke watched the fight and noted that Haru was more skilled with weapons than being bare handed, but that didn't mean that in a fist to fist fight that she wasn't still deadly. The kunoichi dodged the strikes thrown at her by Haru and found enough distance to do a jutsu, "Earth Style: Hammer Arm!" The ground shifted and became the shape of a giant arm of rocks. When it slammed down toward Haru the blonde kunoichi didn't waver.

Haru charged chakra into her bo staff and swung it like a baseball bat and hit the rock hand destroying it before it could even move. This shocked the Iwa kunoichi greatly. One of her teammates shouted, "Rika will you be okay!"

Rika looked at her teammates shouting, "Don't interfere I can handle this!" When she turned around Haru was in front of her. Haru quickly hit Rika in the gut knocking the wind out of her and swung her bo staff to hit her in the jaw sending her flying in the air. While in the air Rika did a few more handsigns shouting again, "Earth Style: Bone Shatter!" Looking to her left she saw one of the trees and grabbed hold of it sending chakra shooting through it and into the ground.

Haru felt the ground shift below her and two giant slabs of earth shot out of the ground and almost enclosed on her crushing her, but she got out of the way just in time. Rika landed on the ground and the two kunoichis were again at a stare down.

As Sasuke watched he noted Haru's growth since Naruto left. Her timing was down better, she linked her moves together much better, and she lost her chatter box of a mouth when battling. When ever he or Haru spared before she would gloat about being better and talk to much during the fight that it was annoying, but it seems that she lost all traces of the Haru from before.

Rika looked infuriated with how the battle was turing out she looked to her teammates and gave them a nod. Both the Iwa nins did a few handsigns and shouted, "Earth Style: Twisting Gaia!" The ground beneath Haru shifted around and morph and it made some parts of the ground soft and mushy while the other changed to spikes, but it was in a small area of Haru and it didn't affect Sasuke or Sakura.

Sasuke jumped into the battle going after the two Iwa nins, when they saw Sasuke they stopped their attack making the jutsu stop around Haru, but her foot sunk into the ground immobilizing her. Rika ran at Haru with a kunai in her hand saying, "I'll take you out right here and now!"

Haru was about to defend with her bo staff, but something happened that caught both Haru and Rika off guard. Sakura jumped at Rika and drop kicked her in the face knocking her away from Haru.

Rika recovered and looked at the new intruder and saw Sakura and was pissed that she was caught off guard. Sakura ran at Rika doing a series of handsigns, Rika countered by trowing a few kunai her way each one hitting Sakura making smoke cover her leaving only a block of wood in place.

Rika said pissed off, "Substitution Jutsu!" She then heard footsteps behind her and Sakura running at her doing the same handsigns again. After Sakura got done doing her handsigns she tossed a small white ball behind Rika.

The Iwa nin punched Sakura in the face watching her turn into the wood again, turning around to see if Sakura was going to attack her again she saw Haru standing behind her with her eyes closed and she was holding the small white ball. Haru snapped the ball in her fingers and the ball erupted into a flash bang blinding Rika. Covering her eyes leaving herself defenseless Sakura appeared next to Haru and it was now safe for both of them to open their eyes.

Haru shouted, "Let's finish her Sakura-chan!" Haru pulled back her right fist and Sakura pulled back her left and both girls punched Rika in the face at an angle making Rika fall to the ground hitting her head to the rocky ground with enough force to crack it. Sakura and Haru stood over her and saw that she wasn't moving indicating that she was knocked out cold.

Sakura quickly told Haru, "We have to help Sasuke-kun!" Haru agreed and they turned to head into the direction where Sasuke was, but they saw the Uchiha sitting on top of the two other Iwa nins victorious. Sasuke said to the two, "Nice work, but what took so long?"

Haru stomped over to him shouting, "Shut it! Now let's just-" She stopped short in her sentence making both Sakura and Sasuke wonder what happened. Haru smiled and pointed in a direction saying, "My clones found the entrance it's that way!" Sasuke got up and followed Haru, but stopped when he saw Sakura searching Rika. He walked over saying to her, "Sakura-chan we have to go."

Sakura continued to pat Rika down and pulled something out, but he couldn't see it since it was covered up and after getting it she said, "Okay I'm ready. Let's get going." Sakura followed Sasuke after their blonde friend. However unknown to the three leaf nins there were three ninjas hiding in the shadows.

One spoke saying, "So that's the Uchiha and the other one is the jinchuriki right?"

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru wants us to capture the Uchiha and kill the jinchuriki."

"Sounds fun. So are we going to ambush them in the mines?"

One walked out of the shadows and into the light, his attire consisted of gauze that covered most of his face, leaving only his left eye uncovered. He also wears a large poncho with long sleeves, a snake patterned scarf around his neck, a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf, and a large amplifier on his right arm for most of his attacks. The man was hunched over making him smaller in appearance. His voice was deep and raspy sounding, "Yes, my jutsu works better in echoed areas."

The other two walked out of the shadows revealing themselves as well. One was a man who had spiky, dark hair and dark eyes. He wore a beige shirt with two black stripes and three prints of the kanji for death down the front. His sound forehead protector had a face guard and he wore a snake patterned scarf around his neck

The other was a girl she had very long black hair, almost reaching down to the ground, tied right near the end, and black eyes. She wore a sound forehead protector, a pale green vest somehow similar to a flak jacket, and snake patterned pants and scarf, much like her teammates.

Bot the spiky haired sound nin and kunoichi walked over to the downed Iwa nins. The guy said, "Hey Dosu let's finish these guys off, no point letting them live with the fact that they were beaten so easily."

The mummy man named Dosu looked at the downed ninjas and said, "Go ahead then Zaku, Kin… Kill 'em."

The two sound nins smiled and both pulled out kunais ready to kill the three Iwa nins.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* A Few Hours Later: Kirigakure: Hospital *

Inside the morgue were twelve medic nins wearing light blue jumpsuits and masks rushing all over the place with blood on their gloved hands and outfits. Laying on one massive table were three dead ANBU ninjas and one still alive, but all four were stitched together in the most horrible of ways. The doctors were having a hard time trying to cut through the wire since it was chakra imbued and it was very difficult to get the three dead corpses away from the live ANBU ninja.

The doors to the room swung open revealing a woman of unmeasurable beauty. A very curvy figure and she has ankle-length, auburn hair styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot tied with a dark-blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two bangs are short, with one covering her right eye, and two are long, crossing each other on her chest, just below her chin. Her eyes are light green.

She dresses in a long-sleeved dark-blue dress, that falls just below the knees. It seems to be closed at the front with a zip and is kept open on the front-right side from the waist down. The dress only covers up to the upper part of her upper arms and the underside of her breasts. Underneath, she wears a mesh shirt that covers more of her upper body than her dress, but stops short of covering her shoulders and still leaves a sizable cleavage. She also wears shorts in the same color as her dress and, underneath those, mesh leggings reaching down over her knees. Around her waist, she wears a belt with a pouch attached to the back on the left. Furthermore, she wears high-heeled sandals and shin-guards reaching up over her knees. She also wears dark nail polish and is has a dark-blue lipstick.

She was followed by a middle aged man with a patch over his right eye and wears a talisman in each ear with the kanji for a humble form of "to hear" written on them twice on each side. His outfit consisted of a black, striped turtleneck sweater and he wore a green kimono with white edges, and around his waist a green brown obi, in the same fabric as his sweater.

When both entered the room, everyone stopped moving save for the head doctor who approached the two saying, "Hello Lady Mizukage, Ao-sama. We aren't getting far with unstitching this mess."

The female Mizukage walked over to the mangled bodies of her ANBU unit and she took the mask off of the live ANBU ninja looking at his face.

The doctor told her, "Lady Mizukage I'm afraid that he doesn't have much time left. He's lost to much blood and his organs are a mess."

The ANBU was breathing very heavy and his right eye was blood read from one of his blood vessels popping. The Mizukage asked him kindly, "Who did this to you?"

The man gurgled every now and then, but asked, "Lady Mizukage…. please put me out…. I can't take this type…. of pain." She kissed the man on his forehead and said, "I shall… Now who did this?"

Smiling a bit the ANBU told her, "Kisame Hoshigaki…. invaded the Swordsman's graveyard…. and took the Nuibari from…. Kushimaru Kuriarare's tomb…. We followed him and he lead us to… Naruto Namikaze."

Ao and the Mizukage looked stunned, but didn't interrupt him, "We fought with…. Naruto and it felt like an even battle…. but…. but…. something about him was wrong…. These tendrils came from his body…. He somehow was able to avoid…. everything we threw at him…. I don't know how…."

Ao and the Mizukage looked at each other and the Mizukage pulled out a kunai and held it to the man's neck saying, "It'll be quick." She closed his eyes and stabbed the kunai into his skull killing him instantly. The room again went silent as they watched their kage pull the kunai from the man's head. She quietly told them, "Burn their bodies immediately. The only way you'll undue the damage done by Naruto Namikaze is by taking them apart and I will not have that… Burn them."

The medics did as told and rolled the massive table out of the room and to the furnace where they cremate the fallen when ordered. Ao looked at the Mizukage saying, "We need to alert Konoha of this immediately."

The Mizukage already had that thought in her head and walked out of the morgue room and back to her office to tell the Hokage about what happened.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Mt. Oteage *

Team 7 traveled through the maze mine looking for the safe zone, but so far nothing. Growing on the walls of the mine tunnels was glowing moss that illuminated the dark paths brightly enough. Running into numerous dead ends and possibly the same ones a few times. Sakura revealed that she took the rock from the Iwa nins and it could help double their search when it comes to multiple tunnels, but so far they weren't getting far and with the mine being filled with chakra soil from what Sasuke could see with his eyes. Needing to save his strength he deactivated his eyes and they all relied on their sense of direction to get them through.

The group walked into a large dome room where Sakura assumed was where a majority of the digging was done before moving on. Sakura looked up at the ceiling and saw that the moss was growing all on the ceiling and on the walls giving them enough light to see. Haru sat on a large rock holding one of the illumination rocks saying, "This thing isn't very bright and with all the twists and turns around here we seem to be getting farther and farther from the goal. Sasuke took out a kunai and started to chip some of the gravel stuck in his sandals to pass the time while they rested.

Sakura on the other hand had her hand up to her chin in a thinking posture as she looked around. Haru looked at Sakura saying, "Hey Sakura take a load off. You've been working that brain of yours ragged, you need the most rest out of the three of us."

She didn't seem to be listening or she just ignored what Haru said and Haru hoped it was the first. When she didn't respond Sasuke saw Haru squint her eyes as if adjusting to something, but all he could see was her looking at the wall. Haru laid down and started to pout, "I can't believe that we can't find the damn exit-" Sasuke covered Haru's mouth telling her, "Even though these mines are huge and there is a very slim chance that we'd run into anyone it'd be best to keep your voice down so no one knows we are in here."

Haru glared at him and smacked his hand away and did as she was told and sat silently. Sasuke walked up to Sakura placing a hand on her shoulder asking, "Sakura-chan is something wrong?"

Sakura broke out of her gaze and looked at the raven haired boy answering, "It's nothing I guess. Just over analyzing everything." Sasuke knew that unlike Shikamaru who even though was one of the dead lasts in their class he had a high I.Q. and she wasn't too confident in her analyzation as he was. He's seen Shikamaru analyze everything and everything he did always went perfectly. Sakura so far showed confidence, but at the moment she seems to be fighting with whether she should tell them something or not.

"Sakura-chan if you have any ideas we could sure-" he stopped when he faintly heard the sounds of footsteps and quickly looked down one tunnel. He eyed both of them and made a head movement for them to hide behind one of the boulders to which they did. Taking cover they all had weapons ready when a battle should break out. The footsteps got louder and louder and Sasuke peeked out from the boulder to the entrance waiting for their new guests. As Sasuke watched the entrance the sound of the footsteps entered the mining area they were in, but there was no one there much to his confusion. Haru looked up as well and when the she saw no one and the footsteps stopped she said, "What the hell is going on?"

Immediately someone darted from the entrance into the clearing facing the boulder that they were hiding behind and all they heard was the voice of a man shouting, "Decapitating Airwaves!" and a nearly invisible wave of wind shot out from the man's hands and came flying toward them.

* Team 8 *

Hinata, Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru made their way through the mines following Hinata's vision. The three gennins found out the solution to their problem that they were having since walking into the mine and thanks to Shino they were able to finally get on track. Kiba shouted, "Look the rock is getting brighter and brighter as we get closer to our goal!" Akamaru started to bark happily as he walked alongside of Kiba.

Hinata told her team, "I can see the safe zone. We should be there-" They all soon felt a tremor that came out of nowhere and all ducked for cover. Kiba was hunched over Akamaru letting a few rocks fall on him, Shino was standing closely to the wall and Hinata was doing the same opposite of him. Kiba dusted himself off asking his team, "Is everyone alright?"

Hinata and Shino nodded and Akamaru barked. Kiba stood up, but fell down holding his ankle. Hinata ran over asking him, "Kiba-kun are you okay?"

Kiba sat down and held his leg, "I think a rock landed on my ankle. It doesn't feel broken though." Hinata focused her eyes on his ankle telling her teammate, "It's not broken, but it is damaged a bit badly."

Shino ripped a piece of his jacket and gave it to Hinata to wrap around Kiba's ankle, Akamaru paced next to Kiba whimpering every now and then. After she got done she told Akamaru, "Don't worry Kiba-kun will be fine."

"What was that tremor just now?" asked Kiba. There was soon another tremor that made Shino and Hinata cover Kiba from getting hurt again. Shino told Hinata, "Hinata find out what's causing these tremors? These don't feel ordinary it might be a battle inside the mines."

Hinata did as she was told and activated her byakugan and scanned as far as she could and her eyes settled on what she was looking for, "It is a battle! Haru, Sakura, and Sasuke are fighting some sound ninjas!" Hinata looked at Shino who immediately sighed. Kiba gave both of his teammates a smile telling them, "I'll be fine just go save our friends. Akamaru can watch over me."

Shino and Hinata got up and ran off to go save Team 7.

* Team 7 vs Team Dosu *

Haru kept jumping around avoiding Zaku's attacks and couldn't get close enough to stop him from using that jutsu. Sasuke was fighting Dosu and was getting floored badly for some reason Sasuke's body wasn't responding like it should and he was being overwhelmed. Sakura kept trying to avoid Kin's attacks, but being poor at taijutsu she wasn't doing so well.

Zaku shouted at Haru, "Stop runnin' and fight!" shooting yet another airwave out of his right palm. Haru dove avoiding the attack and tossed some shurikens at him, Zaku held his hand out and stopped the shuriken by shooting them back at Haru with his airwave attack. Haru kept her distance from Zaku making sure not to get hit by that attack. It was enough to shatter rock and stone.

Haru looked again and saw Sasuke trying to avoid some punches thrown by Dosu, but from what she could see was that his reaction times were slow and he looked to be in pain. 'I have to get over there as quickly as I can!' Haru thought.

She pulled out a small scroll and unraveled it's contents, smoke erupted from the scroll revealing ten kunais with small attachments tied to the loops of them. Haru put each finger through the holes and tossed them at Zaku and she saw him raise his hands up to repel them again, but Haru quickly activated the attachments shouting, "Sealing Style: One Hundred Senbon Needles!" Exploding from the attachments were ten senbons for every kunai expanding enough to cover the whole wall behind Zaku.

Zaku still used his jutsu to blow away a hole in the wall of senbon needles to protect himself, Haru unraveled the scroll a little more unsealing another content which was a metal wall big enough to cover her and strong enough to withstand the attack knocking her senbons off of the wall and sticking in the ground a few feet in front of her.

Haru looked at her hands and thought, 'Kaa-san this better work.'

Haru leapt over the mini metal wall and ran through a few handsigns shouting, "Lightning Style: Nevan!" Lighting shot from her finger tips heading toward Zaku. The sound ninja jumped out of the way in time shouting, "That all you got if so then-"

Before he could finish his sentence the lightning that Haru shot from her fingers attracted to the senbons and bounced back to the senbons sticking in the ground, but since Zaku was in the way the lighting hit him shocking him. Haru was a good distance away not to be hit and she smiled and ran up one last time unsealing yet another item from her scroll which was a long jitte weapon that was almost longer than her.

Before Zaku could hit the ground Haru got up close and shouted, "You rely to heavily on your airwaves to fight up close like this!" Haru swung her jitte and hit Zaku in his neck knocking him out cold, she saw him collide with the ground cracking it as he hit.

She looked to her right and saw Sasuke laying on the ground and Dosu standing directly over him and to her left she saw Sakura being pinned to the wall by Kin and the sound nin had three senbons between her fisted fingers and pulled back to punch Sakura with them. Haru shouted out loud, "Stop!" and rushed to save Sakura, but feared she was too late.

Kin was already swinging and Haru wasn't close to be able to save her friend.

Sakura watched what seemed to be in slow motion as Kin's fist came closer and closer thinking, 'Haru-chan…. Sasuke-kun…. Tou-san…. Kaa-san…. This is as far as I go.' She closed her eyes ready for the impeding attack, but then nothing. She opened her eyes again and saw the backs of two familiar people standing in front of her and facing Kin.

Kin was in shock as she saw that her left arm was being held by a guy in glasses and her fisted hand was now numb after being hit by this other kunoichi. Haru saw the two new comers move quickly and happily shouted, "Hinata-chan! Shino-kun!"

Shino moved forward and punched Kin in the stomach stumbling her and Hinata finished her dropping into family's taijutsu stance, "Eight Trigrams! Two palms! Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-Two palms!" Hinata successfully hit thirty-two of Kin's chakra points with the last two hits sending the sound kunoichi flying into the wall unconscious.

Dosu looked over and saw the whole thing and was irritated, "Those two idiots can't handle some brats?"

He felt something grab his leg and he looked down and saw Sasuke wrapping his legs around his right leg. Sasuke used the rest of his strength and twisted his legs around Dosu's right leg trying to break it at the knee, but unfortunately Dosu turned his leg at the right moment making him fall on his left knee, "Was that suppose to hurt me kid?"

Sasuke grinned saying, "No actually she's suppose to hurt you I'm the diversion." Dosu's eye's widened and turned around and right before everything he knows goes dark he saw Haru already swinging her jitte weapon. Haru hit Dosu right in the side of the head watching him skid away unconscious. Haru looked at Sasuke with a superior grin on her face making Sasuke regret saying this, "Alright thanks for the assist."

Haru sighed saying sarcastically, "Well as long as you said it like you meant it." She helped him up asking him, "What's up with you why can't you move like you normally do?"

"He said that his gauntlet affects the eardrums knocking you off your game and damaging your motor functions. Which is why I couldn't move so well… What about Sakura?" Sasuke asked. Haru stopped walking and told him, "She's fine. Shino-kun and Hinata-chan came to help out."

Sasuke looked up and saw Hinata holding Sakura up and Shino standing there watching him and Haru approach them.

Haru told the two, "You guys saved us back there. Thanks." Hinata gave her a smile saying to Team 7, "Your comrades and our friends, of course we'd come to your aide."

Sakura looked around asking, "Where's Kiba and Akamaru?" Shino informed them, "Kiba was injured and we had to leave him behind. We should get back before any ninjas run across him. Though I highly doubt that what with the genjutsu covering this place."

Immediately Sasuke, Haru, and Sakura looked at him funny asking together, "What genjutsu?"

"Not a genjutsu per se, but from what we gathered from some Iwa nins was that those hallucination flowers grow in these mines as well affecting our sight and smell." Hinata told them, "Apparently some of the flowers can grow close to the mine entrances making pollen fly into it and linger in the air and since you can't really see pollen you don't really know that your hit until it's to late."

Shino added, "However my bugs adapted to the scent and I was able to lead us through the illusions. When you venture deep enough into the mines the affects wear off and Hinata was able to find our way to the safe zone."

"How did you guys find us?" Sakura asked. Hinata explained that to her pink haired friend as well, "Bugs… Shino-kun had bugs send an immune system into our bodies. It'll only work temporarily for me and Shino-kun though, but his bugs know the way to Kiba-kun."

Shino looked at Sakura asking, "You knew too didn't you Sakura-chan?" Sakura looked at Shino answering him, "Well kinda. I had a hint, but nothing to back anything up."

Sasuke knew that Sakura had a hint, but she didn't act on it. Haru asked Shino and Hinata, "Mind giving us a hand? We're asking a lot, but with how Sakura-chan and Sasuke-kun are we can't make it on our own."

"Of course Haru-chan. We leaf nins have to look out for one another." Shino said. He walked over and put Sasuke's arm around his shoulder and let Haru take Sakura's other arm around her shoulder as well. Hinata told Shino, "Lead the way."

Shino agreed and took off running first followed by the kunoichis. Sasuke, Haru and Sakura were surprised by this illusion it was a damn good one. Since Shino didn't use his bugs to inject an immune system into the three it looked like they would run into walls, but really they ran through some and did all kinds of other weird things. Sakura concluded that the pollen affects the sight and the brain more making you see things that aren't really there to some degree. That was why it took so long to find certain areas. Haru held out her illumination rock saying, "It's getting brighter!"

Hinata shouted to Shino, "I can see Kiba-kun and Akamaru. They're fine."

Kiba sat against the wall with a kunai in his hand in case any trouble came by and heard footsteps and smelled his friends were nearby, "Bout time." Haru playfully said to him, "You don't look hurt that bad dog boy." Playing her game Kiba said to her, "Can it fox girl and give me hand."

Haru left Sakura's side and went to help Kiba. Shino told Hinata, "You have to take the lead from here Hinata-chan. We're far enough into the mountain so the pollen shouldn't be a problem anymore." Hinata agreed and started running through the tunnels leading to the safe zone.

Hinata stopped in front of a giant boulder saying, "The door is behind this."

Shino, Haru, and Sakura took out the illumination rocks and saw them glowing brighter than they ever had before. Sasuke activated his eyes and said, "The ground is practically glowing with chakra." Sakura saw something on the boulder saying, "Guys look!"

A seal appeared on the giant boulder for 'Light' appearing. Sakura told her friends, "Hold the rocks closer." Sakura handed her rock to Haru and Shino did the same. The blonde kunoichi walked closer illuminating the whole rock and watched as the seal disappeared and the rock crumbled away revealing the door. Haru, Kiba, Sakura, and Hinata smiled happily and opened the door showing a shaft that led straight down. Haru told everyone, "Who wants to go first?"

* Safe Zone *

The safe zone was a large hallway with doors leading to other rooms and two jounins standing at the entrance waiting for other contestants. They saw the door opened up and a group of six gennins walked in. Kiba shouted at Haru, "You actually tried to throw me down the shaft!"

Haru smiled innocently saying, "I said I was sorry. We're lucky though that Hinata found the ladder leading down here. Besides you should be happy that I had to carry you down here."

The Iwa nin walked up to the group saying, "May I please see your illumination rocks?" Haru reached into her pocket pulling two out and Shino handed his to the jounin as well. The jounin examined the rocks carefully and said, "You all made it. With time to spare, down this hall are twenty rooms the ones with green cards mean that it's empty, red means its in use. Each room has three beds and a bathroom. Pair with your team only and dinner is served to you and under no circumstances are you allowed to leave your room without permission. Is that clear?"

The gennins nodded and broke into their groups. Sakura was now okay to walk on her own and Haru helped Sasuke.

Shino took Kiba from Haru and the two groups walked down the hallway to a room. They saw four rooms were in use so far and took the rooms opposite each other. Haru told Hinata and Shino before they went into the room, "Thanks again guys for the assist."

Hinata told her friend, "Of course we'd help." Haru and Hinata smiled at each other once more and both teams retreated into their rooms.

Looking in the rooms they were fairly big even with three beds. Haru sat Sasuke down on one of the beds and saw Sakura taking the middle bed. Haru told her team, "Well now that was eventful now wasn't it?"

Sakura looked around and saw a clock in the corner and told her team, "Time to spare huh? He was right we we came this close to loosing. Now I guess we wait." Sakura took her sandals off and placed them neatly by her bed. She looked over at her friend and saw Haru jump on her bed to lay on her back and she kicked off her sandals making them fly in some random direction. Turning her head away from Haru she saw Sasuke sitting down looking at her, "Something wrong Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke didn't take his eyes off of Sakura asking his teammate, "Why didn't you share potential evidence with us even if you couldn't prove it?"

The pink haired gennin looked down not wanting to look sad in front of him, "I don't know, I just didn't think that-"

"Sakura-chan so far you've been extremely helpful to this team. Don't be afraid to tell us something, we are not only your team, but your friends. You can tell me and especially Haru anything whether it regards to missions or not." Sasuke's tone sounded gentler than at first showing that he wasn't mad, "Sakura-chan… You're stronger than you let on. I know that you feel inadequate to mine and Haru's skills."

Sakura gripped the sheets of her bed she was sitting on a little tighter hearing Sasuke's words. Haru was laying on her side facing away from her teammates looking over her shoulder, for awhile now she has seen that Sakura seemed down especially on their Wave mission when Zabuza and Haku attacked. She thought the same line as Sasuke, did she really think that she would be slowing this team down because of her skills?

"Sakura-chan, just because your taijutsu isn't the greatest in the world, or you don't know enough ninjutsu doesn't matter. Look at Rock Lee as an example, he knows absolutely no ninjutsu or genjutsu and yet he's extremely powerful. Don't you ever think or believe that you can ever slow us down! You are an irreplaceable figure in this team Sakura-chan!" Sasuke told her, Haru smiled hearing those last words. Sasuke could see from where he sat tear drops fall into the kunoichi's lap.

Sakura whipped her eyes with her hands saying, "Arigatou Sasuke-kun. I promise that I'll get stronger for myself to prove that I can be a stronger kunoichi. I promise." Sakura looked up at Sasuke smiling at him gratefully. For a long time she's seen how strong Sasuke and Haru are and feared that with her skill level that she'd only slow the team down to the point of them needing to replace her with someone better, but because of Sasuke's words she felt a new drive to get stronger not for others but for herself.

Sasuke turned his head away from Sakura so that she didn't see the very light blush on his face, "Well at least you understand now Sakura-chan… I'm going to sleep, be sure to get some sleep as well. These exams aren't over yet." Sasuke pulled his blankets back and laid down to go to sleep. Sakura nodded and whipped her eyes some more and she lifted her blankets to go to sleep as well, but as she did so she saw Haru facing her now with that smile that could melt ice.

Wondering how much she heard, but then realized that her blonde friend heard the whole conversation, "Something wrong Haru-chan?"

Haru told Sakura, "Nothing… Nothing at all. Just saying goodnight." Sakura gave a slight smile back saying to her, "Oh, well goodnight Haru-chan."

"Goodnight Sakura-chan."

Both kunoichis laid down and fell asleep to get some much needed sleep.

In Team 8's room Hinata laid on the bed looking at the ceiling holding the necklace that Naruto gave her in her fingertips. The teardrop made a blue light cause by the dimly lit room making it shine beautifully. Hinata put the necklace back on and laid on her side whispering to low for even Kiba to hear, "Naruto-kun… What are you doing right now?" She slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep dreaming about her Naruto.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Konoha: Hokage's Office *

Minato sat in the darkness of his office gripping a piece of paper in his hand. It was a letter from Mei Terumi the Godaime Mizukage. From what she wrote in the letter and from what situation happened in Kiri he now knows that Naruto is falling deeper into darkness. He didn't want to believe what was written in the letter about his son, but there was no reason for the nation of Kiri to lie about such a thing.

His office door opened showing his wife Kushina, she was carrying a basket of food. She usually brought him food from home since he loved her cooking the most out of everywhere else to eat. She noted how dark it was saying, "Minato-kun why is it so dark in here? Here I brought you a snack before dinner." She started taking a few things out and saw out of her vision Minato push a crumbled piece of paper toward her.

Kushina looked at her husband with a confused look. Minato told his wife, "It's from Mei… about Naruto." She instantly grabbed the paper and read through it throughly and to her horror of what it said in it's written content.

He got up from his chair saying, "Naruto is becoming powerful at an alarming rate. Soon ninjas like Arashi, Itachi, Kakashi, and other high leveled ninjas will be necessary to fight him." Kushina placed the paper on the desk saying to him, "Will you do it? Will you place Naruto in even greater danger?" She stared at him seeing his form tremble knowing what this was all doing to him and he fights trying to show this side of himself to others. Walking over to him she hugged him placing her forehead on his back stopping him from shaking.

"K-Kushina… I don't know what to do anymore… Do I do what a Kage needs to do, or what a father should do?" Minato asked her looking out at his village. Kushina kept holding onto him trying to calm him, "Minato-kun… There is Hinata-chan, she can save him I know she can."

Minato turned to her and hugged her back, "I know what I can do for him, but he needs to show more of his power to make me need to place such a rank on his head." He tighter his hug on his wife saying, "Because of this the other nations will wonder why such a rank was put on him in the first place and not a more appropriate one for one so strong." He let her go and walked over to his desk pulling out a piece of paper, "Kushina, I have no choice but to up Naruto's rank from an 'A' rank… to an 'S' Rank Criminal."

He couldn't see it, but he knew that she was tearing up now. Naruto was able to single-handedly kill well trained ANBU leaving one near death a testament of his skill as a ninja. She watched as Minato upped the information on their son making him an even bigger target now, she can't hate her husband for doing what needs to be done. She knows that Naruto can still be saved and it comes in the form of a young girl.

After he finished writing down Naruto's information he looked at his wife, "Kushina, I do hope Hinata can save him. Otherwise I'll have to send Jiraiya to bring Naruto down." Kushina whipped away her tears and smiled at him the best she could, "I trust that she can Minato-kun. I know that she can save him, Haru-chan said there is a light left in Naruto and Hinata will be the one to brighten that light further."

She walked over to him one last time hugging him both knowing that they'd need to explain to their children that they placed Naruto on an absolute kill sight. Once ninjas from all over realize that Naruto Namikaze is now an S-Ranked criminal that will make the bounty hunters more hungry for him as a target which scared them. For now there was nothing they could do but to trail their son.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

Okay nothing really to say right now except that the next chapter is called: A Twist in the Exams. I'm really trying to get these done, but my family is first and need my help. I'm not giving up on this story, I don't have writer's block, or nothing else of that nature I just need to put my family first. Thanks to those who understand and I'll try and update ASAP. Thanks for waiting and reading!


	26. A Twist in the Exams

Chapter Twenty Six : A Twist in the Exams

**WELL HERE IS A PROBLEM! I WILL BE INACTIVE FROM TODAY - APRIL 5TH. A FAMILY MEMBER IS REQUESTING MY HELP AND I WILL BE GONE TO HELP HER OUT. I'LL BE BACK AND WRITING A LITTLE AFTER APRIL 5TH SO NO WORRIES I'LL BE BACK BEFORE YOU KNOW IT AND I DON'T KNOW IF I'LL BE NEAR A COMPUTER TO DO ANY WORK, SO WE'LL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE. ENJOY THIS CHAPTER!**

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Noon: Iwagakure *

Arashi walked the streets of Iwagakure with his 'fiance' Kurotsuchi. He looked around the village and saw high prices practically everywhere, though the village had an army to rival Konoha their economy was no where near it should be for a village this size.

"Pitying our village Arashi-kun?"

Hearing his name he looked over to Kurotsuchi who was looking directly at him, "Not at all. I'm just wondering how things got this bad after the war? Tou-san told me that before the war this village was thriving, but now I don't see that."

Kurotsuchi looked around at her own village explaining, "After the war things changed. Some of the daimyo saw that with Konoha's victory over Iw who better to get the job done than the victors of that war. We lost a lot of contracts after the war and gramps is trying everything to get the village back on it's feet."

The two started to walk in silence and Kurotsuchi had a thought on her mind that was bugging her, "Arashi-kun, if it isn't to bold of me… Is there someone waiting for you back in Konoha?" She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes and saw that he looked depressed, "Sorry I shouldn't have-"

"It's okay…" Arashi said to her, "Her name is Hana Inuzuka, she's a ninja vet for her clan's ninken."

Kurotsuchi could see a faint smile in the corners of his lips. He really loved that girl in her opinion and here she was about to take that from that kunoichi. Arashi asked her, "What of you? Is there someone here that you like?"

"Like, yes. Actually finding a relationship with any of them… no." she said nonchalantly, "The men here are strong, but none can exactly keep up with me. Gramps always pesters me about finding a husband soon. Who knew that he'd go this far to find one for me." Again the silence rolled in. Arashi took a few more steps ahead of her asking, "How about we get to know each other better. I know I said I'd wait until I spoke with my father about this marriage, but that doesn't mean that we can't have dinner later tonight as friends right?"

Blushing slightly Kurotsuchi nodded and asked, "Well I still have duties in the exams so I own't exactly be available tonight, but how about around two o'clock for lunch?" Arashi agreed and followed her back to where the jounins were waiting for the second phase of the exams.

* Tsuchikage's Office *

Onoki was relaxing inside of his office looking through a list of ninjas. His door opened revealing his secretary who placed another list on his desk and left the room. Scanning over the list he said to himself, "So more of these gennins couldn't take it huh? Let's see theres a lot of teams that died this year round and it seems that we also had a very large bunch of gennins appear this year as well."

He tossed the list aside, "My ANBU searched that wide an area and found that many dead already. Such a waste of talent."

His door swung open revealing a jounin who ran up to the old man shouting, "Tsuchikage-sama! We have a situation!" Onoki told his ninja, "Calm down boy. What's so important that you need to barge into my office without permission?"

"Forgive me Tsuchikage-sama, but we got word from our border patrol! They saw two ninjas with black cloaks and red clouds on them. We've identified one from the book as Kakuzu of Takigakure!"

Onoki eyes widened in shock and he demanded, "From what direction were they coming from?"

"The South mountain range."

He stopped to think about it and then said, "Okay then send a small squadron over there to check it out meanwhile send a larger squad to the East range."

Confused, but didn't question it the ninja ran off to go do as his kage ordered. Onoki snickered thinking, "You really think I'd fall for a trick like that Kakuzu? You let yourself be seen didn't you?" The kage jumped out of his chair and headed out of his office to go handle Kakuzu and his friend.

* Five O'Clock: Iwa Eastern Mountain Range *

Kakuzu and Hidan walked along a slim path through the mountains. They were able to trick ninjas in the south range that they were going to invade from that direction, but instead headed through the path Kakuzu took so long ago when he had to deliver Naruto to the Tsuchikage. Hidan thought that they were in the clear while Kakuzu knew better. He doubted that Onoki would fall for such a trick and kept himself on alert for any Iwa nins ready to fight.

Hidan looked around asking, "Yo, how long till we see the village?" Kakuzu was walking a few feet ahead of Hidan, "Not much longer. Be on guard, just because the exams are going on doesn't mean that they've dropped their guard."

Coming to a kind of clearing and that's when they heard a bird in the sky. Both stopped and looked up seeing the lone bird circle around them.

"We have company." Kakuzu said calmly.

As expected the two Akatsuki nins were surrounded by Iwa ANBU. Hidan already had his scythe out smirkingly saying, "So much for not being seen on your 'secret' passage."

One of the ANBU shouted, "By order of our Tsuchikage you are both to be killed!" Hidan smiled sadistically, "You assholes really think you could kill us? Come and try!"

Kakuzu aimed his hands at a few of the ANBU and let his threads fly from his body catching a few of them. Hidan ran at the ANBU fighting three at the same time deflecting their attacks with his scythe and cable. Kakuzu tightened the threading he had around the ANBU ninjas' necks and snapped them in one quick motion. Hidan kicked one ANBU in the stomach sending him flying into a boulder and he quickly pulled out his retractable spear and tossed it at the downed ninja watching as it pierced his chest killing him.

Dodging another combination attack Hidan felt someone stab him from behind and saw that finally one of the ANBU finally hit him. Hidan smiled, "Finally got me." said the ninja and feigned death falling to the ground. When the two ANBU saw Hidan fall to the ground they turned their attention to Kakuzu who showed his back to them showing no interest in wanting to fight them.

The two ANBU held onto their swords and ran at Kakuzu ready to kill, but then Hidan jumped back up grabbing his cable and whipping his scythe that was attached to it at the two Iwa nins watching as his scythe cut both of their heads off in one clean swoop. The two bodies fell to the ground and two of the heads rolled off in different directions. Hidan chuckled in amusement, "They were a good workout."

"We're leaving this area." said Kakuzu. Hidan looked at him very confused, "What the fuck? We just spent the last few fucking hours climbing these mountains and getting through only for you to say that we are fucking leaving!"

Kakuzu turned and headed back into the opposite direction, "If these ANBU were waiting for us, then chances are that old fart of a kage will be waiting down the line as well." Hidan thought about it and the two couldn't afford to fight a kage and even if they did kill him they'd be putting more pressure on Akatsuki and they didn't need that. Hidan slung his scythe over his shoulder and followed Kakuzu wondering how they were going to get into the village.

* Entrance into Eastern Range *

Onoki stood at the entrance surrounded by his loyal Iwa nins. They all awaited news from the ANBU unit that went in to investigate, but so far no one returned. Becoming very impatient Onoki shouted to some of his ninjas, "I want a unit of four to go in and find out what happened. If you see the intruders than do not I repeat 'Do Not' fight them. Report back immediately if you see them."

Four ninjas ran out from the large group and into the mountains to find their comrades. Onoki knew that the ANBU unit was dead, but it was better to be sure.

* End of the First Part of the Exam *

Haru, Sasuke, and Sakura were brought their food by an Iwa nin and saw that they had a small meal. It wasn't enough to get you full though enough to satisfy your hunger. The three went over plans they could use and what to expect in the next exam and by looking at the time they could see that the first part should be up very soon. Sakura thought about the first part a little and didn't really understand putting them into a situation like that it wasn't very logical to send gennins right off into a life or death situation without proper planning.

Their thoughts cut short by their door opening revealing an Iwa nin who instructed them, "We're leaving. The second phase will begin soon and we're to take you to the next area. Let's go." the ninja moved out of the way of the door to let the three gennins through. Team 7 walked out in time to see Team 8 and Team 10 walk out. The teams greeted each other and followed their escorts down the hall. The hall seemed to go on forever, but finally light was visible and they now found themselves in a meadow.

One Iwa nin pointed to a group of ninja they assumed to be gennins, "Line up with the others and await our Tsuchikage's announcement." Doing as they were told the group walked over to line up with the others and they saw Neji's team, Gaara's team, and two more teams that they couldn't identify. Sasuke looked around and saw that there were a lot of Iwa nins standing around than there should be.

Once lined up they saw the Iwa nin Kitsuchi. He was going down the list looking at each group checking their backgrounds, "Teams 7,8,and 10 are here. As well as Team Guy." Looking at another group he eyed the red head suna gennin thinking, 'Team Baki… So those are the Yondaime Kazekage's kids and the red head must be the jailer.'

Continuing with his work he was happy to see an Iwa team made it, "Team 2 made it." Looking at the three gennins he could see that they didn't look like much but they were a rising hopeful group out of their recent graduates. One of them was a boy with a lime green hair color, purple eyes, a deep purple jacket that was opened up revealing a fishnet shirt, the same colored pants, and his headband wrapped around his forehead.

One of the boy's teammates was a girl. She had long black hair with the top of her head covered by her bandanna headband, black eyes, fair skin and her attire consisted of a dark brown undershirt, with the same colored pants, and a pair of gauntlets on her arms.

The final member of the team was a boy a few inches taller than the green haired one. He had short black braided hair and black eyes. He had on a red vest jacket with his headband imbedded into it, a brown short-sleeved undershirt, fishnet armings for his forearms, red pants, and a scroll strapped to his back.

Glancing down the list he saw that a team from Kiri made it as well, "Team Ooame from Kiri. Not a bad bunch of kids."

The Kiri gennins had on the same attire but with some key differences. They all had on a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflage pattern pants. One boy had a large bandaged weapon strapped to his back with two handles, thick black rimmed glasses attached to headphones, short tufty blue hair, and dark eyes, shark like teeth and his headband attached to the front of his holster.

One female of the gennin team had short curly auburn hair color, light green eyes. Her outfit was the same as her teammates except that her pin-striped shirt was shorter showing her stomach and the sleeves were shorter showing a camouflage pattern mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to her elbows. Her headband was loosely tied around her waist.

The final member of the group was shorter than the other two, brown eyes, he had a baseball cap on with his headband imbedded into it and from what was visible he has a metal gray color hair.

After examining all the gennins he continued with his work and suddenly stopped when a ninja jumped down next to Kitsuchi whispering something into his ear. The larger ninja sighed and said, "I got it." The ninja jumped off again and Kitsuchi stepped up to the gennins.

"Alright listen up. The Tsuchikage won't be able to handle this next phase, so I will instead handle it from here." He stepped up to the gennins saying, "You might be wondering why there are so many Iwa nins here. Well they are here to help with the second phase of the exams." The gennins began talking amongst each other of why the Tsuchikage wasn't going to show.

Kitsuchi put both of his hands behind his back and stood straight saying, "Okay for the second phase of the exams there will be a survival battle." Nine of the Iwa nins standing by jumped behind Kitsuchi and the Iwa ninjas were of various sizes and genders. Some of the gennins became nervous after seeing the ninjas suddenly jump over to Kitsuchi and remained ever cautious.

"Relax runts like I said they will be helping with the second phase. Our Tsuchikage will be back here after this phase has ended to explain the importance of this part of the exam." said Kitsuchi. He looked to his left to two Iwa nins one was holding a box with a hole in the top of it and the other had a clipboard and a pen and quickly both the Iwa nins walked to each of the gennins making them pull out a ball that had a number on it and then one Iwa nin had written the name of the gennin and number on the board. This continued down the line until they had everyone's name and number written down. Once it was done both the ninjas walked up to Kitsuchi handing him the clipboard. He scanned over the paper on the board and looked to the ninjas, "Alright I'm going to call your numbers and then I'll call one of these jounins and you will go with this jounin to start the exam again."

Most of the gennins nodded while the others simply stood there waiting. Kitsuchi first said, "Numbers 1 & 2 step forward!" Rock Lee and the Kiri ninja with the baseball cap walked up first. Lee turned to the ninja shouting, "Hello my name is Rock Lee! Might I have your name?" The Kiri ninja took Lee's hand and shook it answering, "My name is Getsumaru. Nice to meet you Lee."

Kitsuchi called over a Iwa jounin saying, "You two will accompany him to one of our training grounds. I'll explain this now to all of you so you know what to expect. You'll be fighting against our jounins for survival!"

This made almost all the gennins wide eyed and shocked. "How you pass is simple. You have until nightfall to survive against these jounins. Here is how you can pass, you either have to make the jounin submit to you, knock them unconscious…. or kill them and that's how you'll advance to the final phase." Some of the jounins began to snicker and chuckle at the last part. Kitsuchi cleared his throat signaling for the jounin to stop, "How you fail is just as simple… Save for the killing if you submit to our jounin or you are knocked unconscious for the remainder of this phase, then you fail. However this doesn't affect your teammate's chance of passing, simply put if one of you is knocked out then your teammate can still have a chance to pass this is not a teammate fails and you fail. Got it?"

A few gennins looked a little more intimidated, some looked eager to start, while the remaining looked unemotional. Kitsuchi pointed to Lee and Getsumaru for them to follow the jounin to start and everyone watched the three walk off. Continuing where he left off he read the next numbers, "Numbers 3 & 4 step up!"

Ino and Sakura walked forward and looked to see that they had a kunoichi jounin. Sakura glanced back at Haru who gave Sakura an encouraging smile it helped Sakura a little bit which was better than not helping at all. The two gennins followed the Iwa ninja to their training ground.

"Numbers 5 & 6 your next!" said Kitsuchi. Kankuro and Kiba walked up with Akamaru still posted on Kiba's head. Kiba attempted to introduce himself with Kankuro, but was snuffed at which infuriated the Inuzuka. Kitsuchi called up one of the jounins and told the two to follow him.

Glancing at the next two numbers he said, "Numbers 7 & 8 let's go!" Hinata and Temari walked from the group, but Haru grabbed Hinata's sleeve whispering 'good luck' to her. Hinata smiled and followed Temari over to Kitsuchi. Hinata looked at Temari saying to her, "My name is Hinata Hyuuga. Nice to meet you." Temari not wanting to come off as a bitch faced Hinata saying, "Like wise. I'm Temari Tanaka." Kitsuchi called over another kunoichi and like before instructed the two to follow.

Kitsuchi called a jounin over then shouted, "Numbers 9 & 10 up front!" Sasuke walked up with an Iwa nin and the two glanced at each other for a moment. The Iwa nin had black braided hair and a scroll strapped to his back. The Iwa nina smiled saying, "My name is Hiroki Miyake. Your name is Sasuke Uchiha am I right?" Sasuke nodded at the Iwa ninja and kept walking. Hiroki smiled saying, "Strong silent type huh? Well this is gonna be bad." He followed Sasuke and Hiroki saw Kitsuchi smile a bit at the ninja telling them to go with their assigned jounin.

Once they left Kitsuchi continued down the list, "Numbers 11 & 12 are next!" Shino and Shikamaru walked forward and saw their jounin they were assigned to fight against. Shikamaru mumbled something about this being troublesome and walked with his partner to get this done so he could relax. Kitsuchi shouted, "Numbers 13 & 14!" Choji and another Kiri ninja walked alongside of him. The Kiri nin had the thick glasses and the large sword. Choji nervously looked at the Kiri ninja saying, "Hey my name's Choji, mind telling me yours?"

"Oh yes… um… my name is Chojuro. It's nice to meet you Choji."

Haru watched the two thinking, 'Somehow their personalities match.' Both boys nervously walked up to see Kitsuchi and one other Iwa ninja. The Iwa nin started walking away and the two silently followed behind him.

"Okay next are numbers 15 & 16!" Kitsuchi shouted. TenTen stepped forward and so did the black haired kunoichi from Iwa. Both girls glanced at one another for a moment before they both introduced themselves.

"Names TenTen."

"Nice to meet you. My name is Yuki."

With their introductions over and like the others they were assigned a Iwa jounin and left to start their exam. Looking at who was left and what numbers were drawn he decided to do the last team, "Okay since there were an odd number of gennins there will be a three manned team and consisting of numbers 19, 20, and 21. You three there is nothing different the standards are the same there's just more of you. Follow this jounin and you can start."

Neji walked forward glancing past Haru who was glaring at him. The green haired Iwa nin walked silently forward and so did the kunoichi from Kiri. The Kiri ninja happily shouted, "My name is Yu! What's your guys' names?" Both Neji and the Iwa ninja remained silent and Yu spoke up again, "Come on if we are on teams we should at least know each other's names."

"Masashi."

Neji and Yu looked at the green haired gennin hearing him speak in a low voice. Yu said, "Nice to meet you Masashi-san." she glanced over at Neji asking his name. Neji crossed his arms and said, "Neji Hyuuga."

"Both of you aren't very talkative are you?"

Kitsuchi called out, "Okay you three that's enough of the chatter! Now hurry up and follow your instructor!" Yu saw their instructor was already some ways away and quickly ran after him while Neji and Masashi walked slowly.

Haru looked around and saw only three Iwa ninjas were left including Kitsuchi and looking to her right she saw that it was only her and Gaara left. Kitsuchi told the two, "Your numbers are 17 & 18 correct?" Both Haru and Gaara nodded, "Alright, then let's get started. I'll be the one you'll have to fight against."

Haru smiled and said, "Okay then let's start!" She looked at her teammate holding out her hand saying, "Let's properly introduce ourselves. My name is Haru Namikaze." Gaara starred at her hand and looked back at Kitsuchi ready to get this event over with. Haru was displeased with his attitude and looked to Kitsuchi as well.

Kitsuchi remained standing saying, "Alright remember you have until nightfall to defeat me." Haru pulled out a scroll and unsealed it's content which was a bisento an orange pole with a curved blade on one end. Gaara grabbed to cork to his gourd and dropped it to the ground ready to fight.

"Begin!"

Haru struck first dashing at the Iwa nin swinging her weapon at his head. Kitsuchi ducked avoiding the attack and punched Haru in the gut making her gasp in pain making her drop her weapon and sending her flying into one direction. He looked at Gaara and saw sand rise out of the gourd and it flew his way, Kitsuchi grabbed Haru's bisento and swung it at the sand knocking it away. Gaara made some hand movements for the sand to collide on him, but Kitsuchi jumped away and swung the bisento again cutting the sand away again.

Gaara looked behind to see Haru get back up and cough for a minute and then turned back to the battle at hand. Haru wiped her mouth with her arm and saw a little bit of blood on her arm, she stood up and did her signature handsign, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" she summoned out eleven shadow clones and shouted, "Throw your kunais at him!" the Haru clones reached into their ninja pouches and took out six shurikens each and all of them including the real Haru threw them at Kitsuchi.

Kitsuchi avoided Gaara's sand attacks and heard a whizzing sound and looked in time to see a whole lot of shurikens fly his way and again he swung the bisento with enough force to knock all the kunais away. Haru's clones ran at Kitsuchi all wielding kunais in each hand and tried to cut him, but he was ready and cut each one down with with Haru's own weapon. Gaara made his sand slide on the floor and made it engulf Kitsuchi and once he was sure that he had him he aimed one hand at the sand shouting, "Sand Coffin!" The sand squeezed tight and then exploded out shooting body parts everywhere.

Haru watched in horror as Kitsuchi was killed easily by Gaara. The sand ninja turned and looked at Haru saying, "You were of no help at all." Haru could feel the killing intent rolling off of Gaara and couldn't help but think that he planned to do the same to her. Suddenly the ground cracked beneath Gaara, but didn't have enough time to react as a fist made of rocks shot out of the ground hitting him underneath his chin sending him flying into the air.

Kitsuchi climbed out of the hole with his right arm encased in rocks. Haru looked at the body parts and saw that they were rocks and immediately thought, 'Substitution jutsu!' Kitsuchi dusted himself off and looked over at Gaara thinking, 'He has no second thoughts about killing me. Looks like I'll have to take this one down first.'

Haru ran around Kitsuchi and over to Gaara asking, "Hey you okay?" Gaara was on his knees and slowly stood back up and Haru saw to her amazement that there wasn't a scratch on him though she was positive that he was punched. Gaara looked highly irritated and again built up his sand creating a wall and aimed it at Kitsuchi. Taking his time Kitsuchi made the rocks on his arm fall and did a few handsigns and shouted, "Earth Style: Opening Earth Rising Excavation!"

The earth rose up beneath the sand wall and water erupted from it dousing the sand making it fall. Gaara watched as his sand was watered down and fell and was unable to control it. Haru jumped in front of Gaara and unraveled a scroll and unsealed it through the smoke emerged a johyo it's a long rope with a handle on one end and a metal dart on the other. She swung the whip like weapon around and sent the needle flying at Kitsuchi.

Kitsuchi made the rocks surround his arm again and blocked the attack. Haru kept flinging the metal needle around whipping it at Kitsuchi, but he kept blocking it, she looked at Gaara asking, "You have anymore sand?"

Gaara simply replied, "Yes."

She pulled her weeping back and grabbed the needle and whispered to Gaara, "Good I have a plan."

Kitsuchi saw they stopped their attack and ran at them not going to give them a chance to retaliate. Haru finished whispering her plan to Gaara and she did some handsigns shouting, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" an army of clones appeared and so did a blanket of smoke. Kitsuchi skidded to a stop and stood waiting not to foolishly run into the smoke. Emerging from the smoke were many shurikens and kunais. The Iwa nin did a few handsigns and shouted, "Earth Style: Absolute Earth Defense!" He then stomped on the ground making a wall shoot up that was about fifty feet high and fifty feet wide. He ran up the wall and when he reached the top he saw some of the clones trying to fight him.

Like before he quickly dispatched the clones and saw more clones at the base of the wall throwing more kunais and shurikens at him. He easily avoided them and jumped down the wall ready to engage the clones. Haru was a good distance away and made a handsign shouting, "Got you!" Kitsuchi noticed that the clones were holding kunais with explosive tags on them and he turned around and saw that where the other kunais hit his wall had the tags on them too and was soon engulfed in an explosion.

Haru stood ready watching the smoke rise up from her attack and like she planned she saw Kitsuchi dash out the side of the smoke filled area covered in rocks. His entire body was covered in rocks leaving only eye holes where his eyes were, 'This one is clever. Maybe I should take care of her first.' He was about to step forward and felt he couldn't move and saw sand surrounding his feet it traveled up the length of his body until it engulfed him.

Gaara did as Haru planned and was able to capture the jounin, he looked to Haru and nodded his head. Haru again made the same handsigns. Kitsuchi heard a fuse light from inside the sand and said, "Pretty damn clever kid." The sand exploded shooting rocks and sand everywhere. Haru and Gaara shielded themselves from the explosion wondering if it was over. Haru ran over to Gaara and looked at the explosion asking him, "You think we got him?"

Not answering her he remained silent, he looked over to his mudded up sand thinking, 'I have to wait for the water to dry out of my sand before I can use it again.' He told Haru, "I didn't think my techniques would be reduced to this."

"Well at least your good for something. I did the brute of the work so far." Haru said to him. Gaara remained silent and when they saw the smoke clear they were both shocked to see Kitsuchi standing there without so much as a singe on his body. Haru said out loud, "H-How did he? W-What's going on?"

Kitsuchi started walking to the kids commending them on their teamwork, "You two are doing good for strangers. Normally when we do this exercise the gennins usually turn on each other at this point so that there's less competition in the final round."

Haru's eyes widened asking, "W-What do you mean?"

The Iwa nin explained, "One point of this phase is trust. If you can't trust the ninja your paired with then you are doomed to fail. During this phase most gennins when they feel that they have won they quickly turn on their teammate so they believe that they have an easier victory in the final round, but that's where we Iwa instructors use that to our advantage. You tire yourselves out in fighting each other leaving you helpless to defend against us."

Gaara understood saying, "Like earlier." Haru looked at Gaara wondering what he meant, the sand ninja looked at Haru saying, "Because of what I witnessed when you engaged him first I saw that you weren't fit to move on to the final stage. I was going to kill you."

Haru looked shocked and shouted, "What! You were going to kill me!"

Kitsuchi nodded, "Exactly. You kids get greedy real quick, but I needed to unwind so I decided to step in before that happened. Although now I think I should take out the Namikaze first." Gaara and Haru looked at Kitsuchi as he explained, "I thought the girl wouldn't be a problem, but after her traps she set up I can assume that underneath that blonde hair of hers she'll only plan up another surprise attack like that. It'll be annoying if I have to keep dealing with those." He held his hands out and yet again the rocks surrounded both his hands, "At least with the Kazekage's boy I can predict his sand movements. However you girl are more of a problem than him."

Gaara and Haru got prepared for him to attack. Kitsuchi started running at them and Haru quickly held out her hand making a blue sphere form in the palm of her hand, Gaara looked amazed at the amount of chakra forming in her hand. "Stay back!" Haru shouted at Gaara and ran to meet Kitsuchi head on.

Kitsuchi saw the jutsu and thought, 'That's-' He stopped and avoided Haru's attack, Haru meant to slam her Rasengan into Kitsuchi's stomach, but the attack missed and it crashed into the ground making an explosion. Kitsuchi was amazed that a kid her age knows that jutsu, "Damn that was close. I recognize that jutsu anywhere, that's the Rasengan the Yondaime Hokage's signature jutsu. I've seen enough of it during the war to know it's destructive power." Flashbacks during the Third Shinobi War went through his head as he remembers seeing his comrades brought down by that jutsu.

Kitsuchi banished those images from his head and said, "I definitely have to take her out first now." He didn't get a chance to react as Sand again tried to surround him. Punching the sand with his fists he dispersed the sand and saw Gaara running at him.

Gaara though, 'If I get close enough I can definitely capture him.' Once Gaara got close his gourd cracked and turned into sand and he immediately made it surround both him and Kitsuchi. Haru watched as the sand collected and he was about to encase both of them. Kitsuchi acted quick and did a few handsigns, "Earth Style: Chasm of Despair!"

The earth underneath the two split open, Kitsuchi allowed himself to fall down it, but Gaara's sand grabbed hold of Gaara's right arm preventing him from falling. Gaara moved himself out of the way of the hole and allowed the sand to gather around him. Gaara was taken by surprise when Kitsuchi jumped out of the hole and high into the air swung his fist at Gaara. Gaara's sand quickly came up and stopped Kitsuchi's rock fist.

'As I thought.' Kitsuchi thought to himself, 'So it is true, his sand can protect him. Back then it was the same, when I punched him his sand hardened and blocked my attack.' Gaara's sand remained hardened, but he saw his sand begin to dent. Kitsuchi kept pushing forward shouting, "However by pumping my fists full of my nature I can double my strength!" Kitsuchi's fist broke through Gaara's sand and he hit Gaara square in the face and saw Gaara's face crack.

Gaara was sent flying, but his sand flew towards him and stopped him from hitting the ground, he looked up and saw Kitsuchi punch at him again, but his sand came up to block again. Kitsuchi grinned, "It's no use!" His rock fist smashed through the sand again and hit Gaara in the face again and saw the cracks on Gaara's face spread.

The sand grabbed Gaara again and dragged him away. Kitsuchi watched as some of the sand seeped into the cracks on Gaara's face and saw it repairing it. "So you have a thinner, but stronger layer of sand covering your body?" Kitsuchi appeared above Gaara shouting, "It won't save you forever!" Gaara saw the man coming down and feared his sand wouldn't be enough to stop the man. What Gaara saw next shocked him, a flash of orange came standing above him.

Haru stood directly above Gaara and crossed her arms above her head and felt Kitsuchi slam his rock fist right down on Haru's forearms crushing them. Haru winced in pain and shouted, "Move it now!" Gaara acted quickly and sent sand out enough to knock Kitsuchi away from Haru. The blonde kunoichi fell to her knees feeling the pain course through her body. Gaara grabbed Haru and started to run and quickly used all the sand that was just used to attack Kitsuchi as a barrier while they escaped. Haru felt Gaara carry her away and to make sure they got away she pulled out two flash bombs and tossed them behind them and at Kitsuchi. Gaara didn't want to stop to see if Kitsuchi was blinded or not.

Kitsuchi was blinded by the flash bombs, but was able to shield himself at the last minute. He opened his eyes and mostly everything was a blur, "Those kids are strong. This is actually fun." Kitsuchi sat down and was going to wait until his eyesight returned to normal.

Gaara laid Haru down and pulled out a scroll from his ninja pouch cursing, "Damn, I never thought that I'd need to use this." Unsealing the scroll he released the contents of it which was a large pile of sand. Pressing his hand to the sand he injected his sand into it and was able to take control of the sand, "We need to hide for now." Gaara surrounded both himself and Haru with the sand and used a transformation jutsu to make the outside of the sand look like a giant boulder.

Feeling safe for now Gaara leaned against the wall of his sand taking a break. Haru leaned up and looked at her arms seeing massive red marks on her forearms, she tried to reach into her ninja pouch to get her small med kit that she packed, but the pain in her arms made it difficult, 'Dammit! It's going to take a moment before I can heal.'

Gaara reached over and grabbed Haru's ninja pouch from her asking, "What is it you need in here?"

"Why help me out now?" Haru said in a stern tone.

The red head ninja looked at her saying, "I hate to say this, but I can't beat him on my own. I'll need your help." Haru told him, "Okay fine. Inside my ninja pouch is a red scroll labeled supplies I can unseal the contents so just unravel it." Gaara did as she said and unraveled the scroll. Looking at it he saw words above each sealing spots. There were kunais, shurikens, med kits, and other kinds of supplies. Haru placed her hand as best she could above the med kit slot and unsealed it.

Smoke erupted and laying where her hand once was was the small med kit. She tried to open it but the pain coursing through her arms stopped her from trying. Gaara watched her as she kept trying to undue the latch on the small med kit, she was determined that much was certain and if he was to move on then he'd need as much help no matter how much he detested it. Reaching over he popped open the kit and asked, "What exactly am I getting?"

Haru sighed saying, "See that black container there. Get it and open it." Gaara saw the black container and opened it and a smell of herbs invaded his nose a pleasant smell, but strong. Haru reached over with one hand and got as much cream into her hands and forced herself to apply the cream ointment to red mark on her arm. Rubbing it in as best she could and did the same with the other arm.

'It's only a matter of time before the Kyuubi heals my arms although this cream Hinata made is working it's magic.' Thought Haru. She leaned up against the wall to relax saying to Gaara, "We should come up with a plan to survive this."

"We just have to kill him and that's that." Gaara said plainly.

Haru looked at him asking, "Pre tell how do you expect us to pull that off? He has years more experience than both of us combined and he's picking us off with no trouble." Gaara scoffed at her replying, "Then stay out of my way if you're too soft."

"You just said that you can't beat him without my help!" she said to him. Gaara replied in a low tone, "Well then maybe I was wrong. If your any kind of jinchuriki than you'd agree with me."

There was a moment of silence before Haru made an angry expression, "Just because I'm a jinchuriki you expect me to kill anyone? You know I had a hint about what you are and it turns out I was right. We are alike, we both have demons sealed inside of one another."

Gaara gave a sadistic smile, "Yes we are. We're both monsters the difference is that I can accept that I am one, so why don't you just become the monster you need to be to win?"

"Never!" Haru shouted and quickly covered her mouth remembering that they were in hiding. Gaara stared at her unsure of why she shouted, but crossed his arms to ignore her. The small cramped area became silent again. Haru looked down and finally said, "You remind me of someone."

Looking up at the kunoichi he looked at her downed expression. Haru looked up at Gaara with a sad smile, "You remind me of my twin brother Naruto." She let her head lean against the wall as she continued, "You two have a similar view on how fights should be done." She let out a small chuckle and to some it might seem like a happy one, but Gaara knew better. Images of his past ran through his head when he'd come home sad though he put on a smile to convince his uncle that he was fine. Empty smiles and laughter.

"Naruto-nii was very strong and I admired that about him. I always wished I was just as strong as him, but he always was two steps ahead of me and that's how I ended up loosing him." Haru ignored the pain in her arms as she gripped her fists till they turned white, "Monsters, demons, and other hateful names. My brother referred to himself as a monster and I couldn't accept that he'd refer to himself like that." She stopped gripping her fists and looked at her right hand, "I know your name from your sister, but that's all I know… Why Gaara would you refer to yourself as a monster?"

"Why should I tell you? You think that if you'd spill your secrets that I'd do the same?"

Haru stared sternly at him saying, "That's not what I expect. If we are to succeed then we'll need to know about each other, so far we've only gotten by through sheer luck. We need to understand each other if we want to survive. Kitsuchi knows our abilities now and will capitalize on what he's seen."

Gaara eyed her suspiciously not believing anything she was saying, "I refuse. In a short time my chakra should return and I'll be ready to confront him."

"Then what? He knows about your jutsu and there's no way you can take him on like you've been doing. This is a team effort and we need to work as one in order to win." Haru said looking into his eyes. Gaara didn't like this one bit, "Your impossible to work with."

Haru huffed saying, "Says the guy that thinks killing is the solution to everything. What happened to you that made you into a killing machine?" Gaara narrowed his eyes at her and said, "Mind your own business. I trust no one but myself, so why should I trust you with my past?"

The blonde kunoichi held up both her hands showing the wound that was inflicted when she saved Gaara, "Have I given you any reason not to trust me? If anything I shouldn't even be doing this since it was you who thought of killing me." Gaara looked at her arms and saw the swelling went down substantially and the redness was disappearing as well.

Gaara looked at his feet asking her, "Why did you do that?" Haru looked at him confused and heard him say again, "Why did you jump in the way of his attack? My sand would've protected me."

"You seem surprised."

"I am surprised. Most ninjas wouldn't do that for someone from another village." Gaara said looking at her again.

"Well as you can tell I'm not like most ninjas." Haru said proudly. "It's like I said… You remind me of my brother and… nothing never mind."

Gaara asked, "What?"

Haru looked from her feet to Gaara, "I said never mind."

"You said we needed teamwork." Gaara told her. Haru sighed again and decided to tell him, "I'm nosey okay. When I first saw you I saw a pained look in your eyes and… Well maybe I could help you." Gaara looked very surprised at her statement. Haru said again, "I just want to help others and I don't want to see sad eyes. My friend Hinata is already in a depression, she was in love with my brother and I will do anything to see that real smile that Hinata had when I saw her with my brother. If it's within my reach than I'll want to help."

Haru laid on her side facing away from Gaara, "No body can help you Gaara unless your willing to accept it. Like I said I don't know what reason I gave you not to trust me, but everything I said is true. I want to help you, but only if you'll let me." She got comfortable saying over he shoulder, "I'm getting some rest before we have to fight him again." with nothing else to say to him she drifted to a light sleep.

Gaara stared at Haru's form and reached into his pocket pulling out a wrinkled photo of a woman with short tan hair color and light violet eyes. He stared at the photo for a moment and thought, 'Why? Why does she want to help me? A stranger.' He sighed putting the picture back into his pocket and lightly kicked at Haru's back making her turn her head to look at him. "I'll tell you why trusting others is out of the question for me, then maybe you'll realize that fighting for others and helping others is a useless gesture."

Interested Haru sat back down and crossed her legs to listen.

Gaara looked a bit saddened and said, "My mother was used by my father. That man sealed that monster inside of me while my mother was still pregnant with me and slowly her life force was drained away. When I was born I killed my mother." Haru was very shocked at hearing this news and couldn't believe that a man would do that to his own child and wife. "She died and I was forced to live with my uncle Yashamaru. I lived with him thinking I was happy, but everyone in my village avoided me like the plague and all I wanted was a friend. What nonsense." Gaara moved a small bit of sand from their surroundings and made it dance in the palm of his hand, "My uncle. I trusted him and yet by order of the Kazekage… my father… He was ordered to kill me."

If she wasn't shocked before Haru was highly disturbed and pissed off that someone could order something like that and that a family member would actually carry it out. Gaara made a sad smile which was seen by Haru, "Instead I killed my uncle in defense. It was at that moment that love, friendship, and equality was meaningless. Love only yourself and fight only for yourself is how you'll survive." He made the sand stop and watched it fall to the ground, "Since then my father kept sending assassins to kill me, but I always killed them. I've always been alone and I'll always be alone."

Gaara looked in her eyes and didn't see what he thought he'd see. She wasn't afraid of him, she wasn't judging him, it was a look of concern. Haru moved slowly over to him and grabbed his hand, "Gaara… I didn't know your life was like that, but you obviously can trust others… After all you trusted me with your past." She smiled sweetly at him that made him widen his eyes at her. She released his hand saying, "It's sad that you've never had a friend before, so let's change that. We are the same, both given the duty to protect our villages from demons. It's sad that your village and your family don't see you for the hero you truly are. Gaara-kun there's something someone told me some time ago."

She point to Gaara's chest saying, "Your Gaara and not a monster. Remember that you're 'Gaara' and no one and I mean no one can take that away from you." Feeling a slight pull in his chest something he hasn't felt before. Haru felt her cheeks warm up at how close she was to him now she quickly back up and said, "A-A-And if need be, then I'll be your friend."

She scooted away from Gaara and said, "W-We should get some rest, so umm… yeah." She laid on her side facing away from Gaara and closed her eyes tightly trying to get some rest. Gaara was still amazed at her words and he touched his chest where she pointed and looked at her, 'Why does she care so much for someone like me?'

Gaara felt a pain in his chest, but it wasn't of hurt, sorrow, or sadness. This was different something that was foreign to him. Laying down as well though facing her and not away whatever this feeling was he didn't like it… or so he thinks.

* Close to Nightfall *

Kitsuchi was still looking for the two gennins. He wasn't going to put to much effort into finding them since he wanted to give them a chance, but what the Tsuchikage said to him made him wonder if these two were so strong that he'd need to do this and not one of the other jounins. Sure they had talent, but as far as sending a former general during the Third War might've seemed like a bit much. He looked at the setting sun thinking, "I can't let them off that easy."

He did two handsigns and slammed his palm to the ground and closed his eyes focusing on searching for the two. A few seconds went by and his eyes shot open and he said, "Got ya!" the Iwa nin stood up and ran off to where the gennins were hiding.

Gaara and Haru were now wide awake and their strength returned to them. Haru said, "Okay now that we have a plan of attack. We just have to wait for him to find us."

An hour after the two awoke they spent the time coming up with plans on how to survive. Haru was right a direct confrontation with Kitsuchi was suicide and keeping him at a distance was no better. No their plan needed to be one where they keep Kitsuchi on his toes and leave him completely unsure of how they plan to attack. Haru came up with a lot of different kinds of plans and it was decided on what they should do.

Gaara stopped moving and said, "He's close by." Haru grinned and said, "Okay then let's start."

Kitsuchi ran for sometime before he came across where he felt their chakra. He leapt high into the sky and saw both Haru and Gaara standing wide in the open. He landed a few feet across from them saying, "Knowing the girl there I must've walked into some kind of trap. It doesn't matter though." He dropped into a fighting stance ready to take them on.

Haru had her johyo wrapped around her waist and she grabbed the handle and whipped it around a bit, Gaara raised his hands slightly making his sand surround him. Making the first move Gaara shot his sand out at Kitsuchi who easily knocked the sand away. Haru tossed the needled tip at Kitsuchi who grabbed the end and pulled Haru toward him and punched her in the head and watched as Haru's body erupted into sand. Kitsuchi not truly surprised looked to Gaara realizing that he set up the trap, but that Haru was hiding somewhere.

Gaara grinned and jumped away shouting, "Do it now!"

Confused Kitsuchi heard a strange noise and looked around his feet at all the large rocks around him erupted into smoke revealing an army of clones all of them jumping up at him. Haru was hiding behind a large boulder making the ram handsign whispering, "Sacrificial Clone Jutsu!" After she was done the clones erupted engulfing Kitsuchi in a ball of flames. Haru quickly charged a Rasengan in her hand and dashed from behind the boulder toward Gaara. A few feet away Haru slammed the Rasengan a few feet away from where Gaara stood.

When the Rasengan hit the ground it made the earth beneath them shake. Gaara used his sand to keep his balance and to keep Haru suspended in the air so she wasn't affected as well. Haru waited and saw what she knew was to happen, a hole opened up and Kitsuchi jumped out and away from the two a with a few marks on his body and clothes.

'I knew it.' thought Haru.

Kitsuchi landed away saying in a low tone, "They predicted my movements." Before anything else he looked down at the ground and saw a shadow cover the ground and he looked behind himself and saw sand surround him and engulf him in a dome. Gaara enclosed Kitsuchi entirely making sure to not capture any rocks what so ever so he couldn't escape.

Haru grinned shouting, "We did it! We captured him!" She was so pleased that her plan worked and Gaara was amazed by her talents as well, 'Maybe it won't be so bad to fight her.' thought Gaara.

She looked at the sphere asking, "Okay so how long can he stay in there for before he runs out of air?"

Gaara said, "Why can't we kill him?"

"This again? Because-"

She was cut short of her sentence when the dome prison cracked and Kitsuchi darted out running at the two he clotheslined Gaara sending him flying into a boulder. His sand came up to protect him, but Kitsuchi used a lot of strength and speed to bypass Gaara's defense with pure strength. Gaara fell motionless on the ground and Haru was shocked.

Kitsuchi faced Haru and was a little irritated, "You two are a pain. You're both strong and would be valuable ninjas to your village, but this is as far as you go."

Haru thought to herself, 'Time to use TenTen's jutsu.' She grabbed two scrolls from her ninja pouch and jumped into the air shouting at Kitsuchi, "Twin Rising Dragons!" Unraveling the scrolls the two scrolls spun around her making a twisting motion. Watching very amused Kitsuchi saw puffs of smoke appear one after another and Haru grabbed each one and tossed one after another at him. Some of the weapons had explosive tags on them, a large masses of explosions were made as she continued her assault on Kitsuchi.

More and more weapons came from the scrolls as Haru continued her relentless attack on him. After she ran out of weapons she landed a few feet away from where she tossed the weapons. 'That didn't finish him. This guy is to strong to be defeated by that.'

"That it kid?"

Haru froze and slowly turned around and saw Kitsuchi standing behind her with his arms crossed around his chest. He sighed looking at the setting sun saying, "A few minutes left." He disappeared quickly and was next to Haru now, "You did excellent for kids. However this is it for the both of you." Haru smiled and shouted, "I'm not done yet!"

He saw her cross her arms quickly and saw the faint light streams from wires. Realizing what was happening he looked back at all her weapons and saw five fuma shurikens flying his way. Haru twisted her right hand that controlled the five massive shurikens making them fly in awkward directions the wires wrapped around Kitsuchi each fuma shuriken falling into the ground with the five making the points of a pentagon. Haru shouted, "I win! Lightning Style: Nevan!" Lighting erupted from the fingertips of her left hand and she grabbed the metal wire and watched as the lighting traveled down the wire toward Kitsuchi.

What Haru didn't see in time was Kitsuchi activating a substation jutsu right before he was captured by the wire. The lighting hit the rock substation making it crumble away. Haru was shocked and heard footsteps behind her she saw Kitsuchi running toward her his right fist pulled back ready to strike. Haru watched helplessly as Kitsuchi got closer and closer.

She closed her eyes awaiting the pain that was to come, she heard a loud thud sound though she felt nothing. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Gaara standing in front of her Kitsuchi's fist was against Gaara's forehead and large crack marks formed from his forehead down his face and he looked to be in some kind of pain, but didn't move from his spot.

"Gaara-kun?"

Gaara was gritting his teeth, though his sand protected the brute of the attack he could feel some kind of pressure from the fist. Kitsuchi stared the kids down and smiled, "You two are certainly something else." He stepped back from them and watched as Gaara fell to his knees possibly from a headache caused by the attack.

She knelt down beside him asking, "Why did you do that?"

"My body moved on it's own. Don't breathe to much into it." said Gaara. Haru looked up and saw that Kitsuchi wasn't attacking and wondered why. Kitsuchi smiled and said, "Come on. You two passed the second phase." Haru looked at the horizon and saw that the sun was out of sight now and let out a sigh of relief, "Thank Kami!" said Haru.

Kitsuchi was walking away from the two and Haru grabbed Gaara's arm and put it around her shoulder helping him. Gaara stared at her asking, "What are you doing?"

Haru smiled at him saying, "Helping a friend." Those words made him gawk at her as if she had two heads. She ignored his stare saying, "Just rely on me this last time Gaara-kun." He didn't argue with her and let her do as she pleased.

* An Hour Later: Iwa Exam Building *

Inside a large room was the Tsuchikage who was awaiting the surviving gennins. He sent off many gennins and their instructors back to their respective villages and was surrounded by his Iwa nins, the Leaf jounins, and the one Kiri and Suna jounins. The doors opened up and the first ones to walk in was Hinata and Temari, both slightly beat up but in all cases they were okay, their instructor walked in and reported that both kunoichi's passed and took her leave.

Kurenai smiled at Hinata happy that she passed. Hinata blushed and sat down in one of the chairs with Temari sitting on the opposite side.

The doors opened up again one after another with the next ones to walk in were Hiroki and Sasuke, next was Shino who came alone, then was Ino who also came alone, Chojuro entered by himself too. They all to their seats, the jounins observed the gennins most were more beat up than before and looked to be on their last leg. Asuma walked over to the Tsuchikage asking him, "Where are the others?"

Onoki looked at Asuma answering his question, "Taken to our hospital of course. After this is over you can go see them." Asuma, Kurenai, Kakashi, and Baki were a bit nervous for their students who didn't come back yet, but like stated many times before between themselves Iwa wouldn't do an underhanded trick now with how the village is. Arashi was standing next to Kurotsuchi and she saw the nervousness in his eyes for his little sister.

Their attention was back to the door when TenTen and Yuki walked in the room both kunoichi's smiling. Guy gave his student a good guy pose proud of his student and the green clad ninja was happy when the doors burst open and Rock Lee ran in the room as happy as he's ever been along with his partner Getsumaru. Lee took his seat next to his teammate and Getsumaru did the same taking a seat next to Chojuro.

Neji, Masashi, and Yu came in. The Iwa and Kiri ninjas looked beat up, but were by all means fine, but Neji on the other hand didn't have a scratch on him which amazed the jounins there. When they took their seats Hinata looked back at the door wondering if Haru passed. Temari also looked back at the door wondering if Gaara actually failed. Arashi felt a lump in his throat and was ready to just leave to go check on his little sister, but the Tsuchikage's voice caught his attention.

The Tsuchikage waited a while longer and said, "Well it seems that's everyone. Now we can-"

He was cut off when the doors opened and Haru shouted, "Wait! We're here!" Haru walked in followed by Gaara and Kitsuchi. Hinata, Arashi, and Temari let out a sigh of relief knowing that they made it. Tsuchikage looked to Kitsuchi saying, "Cutting it close aren't we?" Kitsuchi shrugged his shoulders in amusement.

Haru saw Sasuke, but not Sakura and that worried her greatly, but was happy to see that Ino and Hinata had made it. Gaara sat behind where Haru sat which surprised his sister and Baki. The three kunoichis sat together and waited for the Tsuchikage.

"Well now this has been a surprise. We went from twenty-one gennins to sixteen. I'm impressed." said the Tsuchikage. He stood in front of the gennins saying "Now the reason for that phase. Like before where you were thrown into an unknown lands with no actual knowledge of what was there or what lurked in that forest. It's like when you are in war with the unknown of what could happen. Well this phase was just the same."

Shino thought to himself, 'Just like Shikamaru suspected.'

"This phase was the account of when war breaks out and you are with allied ninjas. If war does break out then you'll want to know your comrades from other villages." said Onoki.

Neji gazed at the old kage thinking, 'These were war preparations?'

Onoki smiled and said, "War can be a deadly thing, but you can't always count on information of other village's lands, you cannot expect to be with ninjas from your village all the time, most of all you should not expect all your comrades to survive. That is what the first to phases teach you." He put his hands behind his back and said, "Finally for the last stage of the exam… There will be a tournament held in exactly thirty-one days to see who is fit to take the next step. Though understand that all daimyos or your kages will chose if you are worthy enough to become a chunin and that winning the entire tournament doesn't guarantee you a spot as chunin."

This shocked a few ninjas. Haru stood up and shouted, "Wait so we leave it in the hands of others?"

"Exactly right kid. If your old man feels that your up for the next step of being a ninja, then you've got nothing to fear. That goes for everyone, not only your kage, but if the daimyo's think that you should be promoted then that's another way. Impress your piers and you just might make chunin." He paced for a moment before he told his Iwa nina to randomize the names of the gennins who passed into the tournament bracket.

"We'll now see who will be fighting in the final phase of the exam." Onoki announced. His Iwa nin picked random names and started to put them on the bracket list. Arashi watched from the side asking Kurotsuchi, "How do they pick who fights who?"

She leaned in and whispered, "The Iwa nin doesn't know the gennins nor their skill levels. It's like actual randomization he's picking any name and placing it on the bracket. You don't need a computer to set up the fights." Arashi had to agree with that. After the Iwa ninja was done he handed the paper to Onoki who scanned the list saying, "Okay now here's how it will go. There will be eight rounds in the first, then four rounds in the second, two rounds in the third, and finally one round in the final. We have who will fight who in the first rounds of the tournament."

He cleared his throat as he read, "First round will be Gaara vs Rock Lee, second round will be Getsumaru vs Yuki, third round is Hiroki vs Sasuke Uchiha, fourth round is Masashi Kamizuru vs Shino Aburame, fifth round is Hinata Hyuuga vs Neji Hyuuga, sixth round will be Temari Tanaka vs Ino Yamanaka, the seventh round is TenTen Shinoda vs Yu Terumi, and the final round is Chojuro vs Haru Namikaze."

All the gennins started looking at the others who'd they would be fighting in one month. Onoki told everyone, "One month… That's all you get. You will go to the Iwa Stadium for the tournament, if your late then you are disqualified. No exceptions on who you are or who your family is. You want to rank up, then be on time. That's all." Onoki finished and told the jounins to take their students to the hospital to check on their students, but they are to return to their rooms as soon as they see their students.

Kakashi and the other jounins did as instructed and gathered their students to see the ones who were in the hospital. Arashi decided to join Kakashi and his sister to see Sakura to see if she was okay.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Unknown Location *

Kakuzu and Hidan were in the next village over to Iwa. A small town for them to hide in and so far no ANBU ninjas have come looking for them. They sat silently waiting for their leader to contact them. Hidan continued sharpening his scythe waiting for the chance to get back on track, Kakuzu was flipping through the recently updated Bingo Book for a list of potential bounties.

They were told about how Naruto came into the possession of one of the Swordsman of the Hidden Mist's swords and the damaged he's caused with it.

"This is taking to fucking long! When is that asshole going to contact us?" Shouted Hidan. Kakuzu kept flipping through his book, "He'll contact us soon. Onoki isn't a push over and since we didn't get much from the outlined area we didn't see any Sound ninjas. With the exams coming close to an end we'll soon have more than one kage to deal with."

Hidan put the whetstone away asking his teammate, "Hey from what we know if three jinchuriki are there then why don't we send a majority of the Akatsuki to capture them?"

"We don't need that kind of exposure right now. Akatsuki doesn't need to be put on the map just yet, just wait it out." said Kakuzu calmly. Hidan spat out at Kakuzu's foot trying to piss him off. Both ninjas froze when they felt that all to familiar connection. A minute went by and Hidan smiled, "So we're going after the Sound ninjas in Rice Country?"

"Orochimaru plans on killing the jinchuriki. We cannot let him do that." said Kakuzu. He stood up and said, "The others will go to Rice Country while the two of us will remain here. Apparently he has his eyes set on the sharingan."

Hidan stood up too and followed Kakuzu out asking how they were going to invade Iwa this time. Kakuzu didn't tell him any specifics, but only that they needed an inside man.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

**WELL HERE IS A PROBLEM! I WILL BE INACTIVE FROM TODAY - APRIL 5TH. A FAMILY MEMBER IS REQUESTING MY HELP AND I WILL BE GONE TO HELP HER OUT. I'LL BE BACK AND WRITING A LITTLE AFTER APRIL 5TH SO NO WORRIES I'LL BE BACK BEFORE YOU KNOW IT AND I DON'T KNOW IF I'LL BE NEAR A COMPUTER TO DO ANY WORK, SO WE'LL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE. I'LL SEEE YOU ALL IN APRIL!**

**-STAY GOLD**


	27. Bounty Hunting

Chapter 27: Bounty Hunting

I'm back from my trip with a brand new chapter I partly written while in Vegas. Thank you all who've been paitent with waiting, I'll get the next one out as soon as I can which I think should be next week.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Next Day: Konoha *

Minato sat at his desk with a small toad sitting on his desk right in front of him. Both his elbows were on the desk and both his hands balled into fists placed against his forehead, "I know your pissed off at me right now."

The Toad opened it's mouth and you could hear Arashi's voice come from the toad's open mouth, "I'm just pissed that we didn't talk about this and that I had to find out like this. Why would you do this without consulting me first?"

Minato could hear that his son's voice wasn't raised and that he was relatively calm during the whole conversation, "This isn't the first time something like this has happened where lords and clans asked for an arranged marriage and the number of times I've said no. It's just that this was a chance for Konoha to have a pact with our long time rivals since the first war."

Arashi spoke again, "Tou-san you know how I stand on these arranged marriages and making the Namikaze family into a clan. I have Hana and I want it to stay like that."

Minato thought about it and said, "I know that son... But you know that you're the one who has the final say in any of this. The Namikazes are not a clan by which you have a freedom as being an adult. Had we been a clan then there would be no objections from you at all." There was a brief pause before Minato continued, "No matter what choice you make I'll support your decision."

"This is for Konoha to have help if there was ever to be future war. No matter what I choose it'll look bad on me. If I say yes it'll look like I want the Namikaze to have more power and if I say no then I'll doom Konoha to having another power on our side." Arashi said.

Minato chuckled saying, "When has the thoughts of others ever stopped you from what 'you' wanted? This isn't Arashi Namikaze I'm talking to who lets the thoughts of others stop him." Minato was met with silence as he received no response from him, "Look son... If you say no then I'll try a different method to gain a pact with Iwa. Like I said this is your choice. By the way your mother will be going to Iwa for the exams as my representative."

"What?" ask Arashi.

"Yes, from what you've told me about the finalists that's four Kages meeting in one village. That's a huge risk 'if' something happens. The Kazekage is also sending a representative as well, so only the Mizukage will be going to Iwa." Minato explained, "She'll have her own escort group and she'll arrive two days before the exams."

Who'll be accompanying her? That's what he wanted to ask, but knowing his mother she was going to bring Hana along... He needed to explain this to her in great detail, but he definitely was going to tell her that he's loyal to her and only her. "Tou-san... I'm setting my life how I want it and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't butt in."

It might've sounded rude to others, but to Minato it was his son respectfully asking him to back off and he respected his son's decision, "I understand. Tell your sister that I said good luck and also that... I want her to refrain from using the Kyuubi's power unless absolutely necessary."

"I will. I'll report Haru's training to you when I get the chance."

"Okay son. Report back as soon as you can though. Over and out." Minato said finally letting the toad close it's mouth cutting off the connection. Minato told the toad, "Connect me back to Jiraiya."

The toad made a croaking sound and closed it's eyes and when it opened them it also opened it's mouth, "Sensei you there?"

Jiraiya's voice came out from the toads mouth, "Yeah I'm hear. I've gotten a little bit of information on our friend Orochimaru."

Interested in this Minato leaned forward asking, "What have you learned?"

"He's after something in Kirigakure. I don't know what it is yet, but apparently it holds a great power and I can only guess who he will turn that power on and I'm sure you know what it is." Jiraiya said in a serious tone.

Minato leaned back in his chair saying, "He plans to attack Konoha... However there is something he wants that is in my possession. The jutsu he wants is very powerful and he'll do anything to obtain it."

"Minato I'm returning to Konoha. I can't do much else here and you'll need as much fire power you can get your hands on at this point." Jiraiya said. Minato agreed and responded, "Sounds good. Kushina is going to be going to Iwagakure as my representative for the exams and Tsunade will be going with her and a few more jounin will be going as an escort for her as well. Do you wish me to summon you back here?"

Minato heard Jiraiya snicker and said, "Or would you rather travel so that you can hit up the bath houses along the way?" He heard another snicker from his sensei and sighed, "Sensei... Just get here quickly."

"Will do gaki! Over and out!"

After Jiraiya spoke the toad on his desk disappeared in a puff of smoke going back home. Minato got up from his seat and was wondering what Orochimaru could be looking for that's in Kirigakure.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Two Days Later: Iwagakure *

Haru woke up from her slumber in the room she currently shares with Hinata, TenTen, Ino and Kurenai. She looked in the dark room and saw that everyone else was still asleep and that it was relatively early in the morning. She let out a big yawn and got out from the bed that she shared with Hinata. The room they were using only had three beds so she shared with Hinata and TenTen shared her bed with Ino and Kurenai had her own bed. When there were other kunoichis they had sleeping bags prepared and slept on the floor before the exams started.

Sakura was still in the hospital and needed rest and the medic nins said that she would get better soon and from what Kakashi said was that the losing ninjas that survived the exams were to be sent back home by an Iwa escort group until they reached the Land of Fire. Haru was saddened at the news that her teammate wouldn't get to see her fight and that she'll be sent home with the other Leaf nins that didn't pass the first and second phases. The Leaf ninjas that didn't pass are gathered in the lobby along with their senseis. Once the Leaf nins in the hospital recover everyone is to immediately leave.

Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai along with other sensei jounins who's students made it to the finals must stay to train the ones that did pass. Her and the others would leave soon to go see their comrades off back home and remain in Iwa to train. Haru swore that she'd win this for Team 7 and show everyone what she's really made of.

Everyone in the hospital was all healed up and ready to leave. Kakashi, Arashi, Haru, Sasuke, Ino, Asuma, Kurenai, Hinata, Shino, and Team Guy were in the lobby seeing all the Leaf nins gather together.

Sakura, Choji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru, and some other Leaf ninjas that didn't make it pass the first exam were all grouped up waiting to leave with their Iwa escorts. Arashi was talking with a few of the Jounins who would be going back to Konoha about having a safe travel meanwhile everyone was saying goodbye to the Konoha gennins that made it.

Haru, Sasuke, and Kakashi saw Sakura sitting by herself looking depressed. Haru put on a goofy smile and ran over to Sakura and plopped down right next to Sakura surprising her, "Haru-chan you scared me." Sakura said lowly. Haru tossed her arm around Sakura's shoulder and asked, "Why so glum?"

Sakura looked back to her feet and said, "I won't be able to stay with you guys for the finals… I thought that maybe I'd be able to make it and we would become chunnin altogether, but in the end I was just to weak to continue."

Kakashi stood silently, his two students would know what to say. Haru pulled Sakura closer shouting, "Hey stop selling yourself short Sakura-chan! If it wasn't for you then we wouldn't have gotten this far!" Sakura looked from Haru to Sasuke and saw him giving her and encouraging smile. Haru told Sakura, "You'll still cheer for us won't you Sakura-chan?"

"Of course I will. I know you two will do great. Thanks Haru-chan." Haru kept on smiling at her. Kakashi told Sakura, "Sakura since I'll have to be here to train Sasuke and Sakura I've asked a friend of mine to teach you a few things until I return."

Sakura nodded to Kakashi and everyone turned to the attention to Team 10 where Ino was talking a little loudly to Shikamaru, "So you just gave up just like that?"

"Yup." was all Shikamaru used to respond. Ino shouted at him, "Shikamaru what are we gonna do with you? Even Choji gave it his all."

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders telling his blonde teammate, "This was all to troublesome. I did my part in helping during the second phase, but I saw no point in continuing… Too many troublesome people to fight in the end." Asuma only chuckled laughter after hearing why he gave up.

Asuma patted Ino on the shoulder telling her, "It's fine Ino as long as you were able to make it into the finals then Team 10 still have a chance at winning." Asuma looked at Choji and saw him depressed, so he decided to give him some encouragement, "Choji… I'm proud of you. You gave it your all and went down fighting, that's all I could've asked for."

Choji looked at Asuma uncertainty clouding his mind, "But I didn't survive long enough to make it to the finals."

"At least you really fought to try and make it there. Don't worry Choji there's always a next time and I know for sure that you'll make it to the finals." Asuma told the plump ninja.

Shikamaru looked at Ino and said, "Well Ino good luck at the exams. You'll need it."

Choji was a bit happier after hearing Asuma tell him that he was proud and he told Ino, "Yeah good luck Ino-chan."

"Thanks guys." Ino said to them.

Also in the lobby Kiba was talking with his team groaning that he was taken out badly, but that his teammate for that phase got what he deserved, "I'm just saying that he was a total ass! That's why we lost that phase!" Akamaru barked from atop of Kiba's head agreeing with him. Kurenai sighed that Kiba couldn't at least try and work something out with his temporary teammate.

Hinata said to Kiba, "Kiba-kun couldn't you have at least tried?"

Kiba crossed his arms and said, "Hell no! He was a prick! Only satisfaction in that was that he was taken out first!" Shino remained quiet and shook his head at Kiba's stubbornness. Kurenai told Kiba, "Kiba I've asked if your mother could take over your training until I'm able to return."

"Yeah…" Kiba groaned, "Hey you two! One of you better come back as a chunnin otherwise I won't let you live this down!"

Hinata smiled saying, "We'll do our best. I promise." Kiba grinned at her response and looked to Shino to give his, but the bug user only gave him a nod in return making the Inuzuka frown thinking, 'You're very motivated.'

Some ways away sat Team Baki. Baki and Temari were talking to Kankuro who was more than displeased about not making it to the finals. Gaara on the other hand wasn't paying attention to his siblings or his sensei, his attention was more on a certain blonde kunoichi a little ways away from them. She was with the Uchiha and the pink haired member of their team. They were saying goodbye to their team and she was doing her best to cheer her friend up.

"Gaara?…. Gaara!"

The red head heard his name being called and looked over and saw his sensei and his siblings looking at him, "What?" he asked annoyed by them interrupting his thoughts. Baki cleared his throat and said, "With Kankuro out of the exams you and Temari will have to win this to prove Sunagakure's power. Remember that only a very few ninjas from our village were allowed to come. We cannot lose this year understand?"

Gaara looked away from Baki and set his eyes back on Haru saying, "I understand… Besides I have someone in mind who I can go all out against."

A Iwa nin walked into the lobby of the hotel and shouted, "All ninjas who participated in the exams and didn't make it to the finals must come with me to the gates of Iwa to take your leave. The rest of you have to remain here!"

The leaf ninjas, mist ninjas, sand ninjas, etc… all got up and started to group up and head for the exit. Sakura, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji grouped together with the other Leaf ninjas and spared a glance to their friends that had to stay and wished them good luck and that they will see them soon. Haru waved her arm in the air shouting to the leaf ninjas, "Don't worry we'll come back and celebrate!"

The leaf jounins smiled at Haru and waved goodbye to their students that didn't make it. The Iwa ninjas escorted the group of ninjas to the front gate. They watched as the large group disappeared from their eyesight and the doors of the hotel closed.

Kakashi said to Haru and Sasuke, "Alright you two it's time we do some training."

"That's right Ino I have to get you ready for the finals." Asuma said to his student.

Kurenai told her students, "The Tsuchikage is allowing us to use their training grounds to get you all in shape for the finals. We'll start training soon."

Haru jumped up shouting, "Yes! I'm definitely gonna win the finals!"

Sasuke made a scoff and made a smart ass remark, "You'll definitely make everyone remember you as the one who was stomped by an Uchiha."

"What was that teme!" Haru shouted at him. Kakashi put his hand on top of both their heads saying, "Calm down now. The three of us will be escorted to the Iwa training grounds in a few hours. So eat up and we'll leave and start training."

Haru and Sasuke both nodded and said, "Hai Kakashi-sensei!" and ran off to eat along with the remaining members of the Rookie 9.

Team Guy watched as the rookies and their senseis talked and Neji asked, "What exactly will we be doing?"

Guy smiled and shouted, "Nothings changed Neji. We'll train like we've been doing. You're fighting another Hyuuga so I'm sure you can understand what to do. Lee will be fighting the Kazekage's son and TenTen is fighting against the Mizukage's little sister. As far as the sand ninja and the water ninja is concerned I don't know what to really train you guys in. However I have thought up a method I was gonna save for later, but I guess now's a good a time as any. Let's get going."

Lee shouted, "Hai Guy-sensei!"

TenTen and Neji followed their green clad teammate and sensei quietly to the area where they will be training.

The preparations for the final exams were on the way and now all the remaining ninjas had to train to beat their foes in the finals.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Land of Lightning *

Kisame and Naruto traveled to Kumogakure as per Pain's orders. The two were ordered to do some bounty hunting assignments so they could acquire money for their plans. Naruto had his new sword tied to his back and was wearing a pitch black cloak with an orange hoodie underneath the cloak and the hood covering most of his face.

Naruto looked at his right hand of his ring finger where the ring Kakuzu gave him now sat.

Kisame was holding a piece of paper and read aloud, "The Kumo ninja we're looking for is a jounin rank. Abandoned his village two years ago and took a few Kumo chunnin with him as well. His specialty is like the other Kumo ninjas is lightning. Think you can handle it?"

Naruto asked him, "What's his bounty?"

"32,000,000 ryo. We'll take his body to a check point that's close to the border between Kumo and the Land of Frost."

Kisame looked back at Naruto asking him, "You seem content on fighting Kakuzu aren't you?"

Naruto told him, "I've wanted to fight him for a long time."

The shark man smiled saying, "He's a goal isn't he? Well once you kill him then what will you do?" At that Naruto stopped walking and remained still. Kisame didn't hear Naruto's footsteps and stopped to look at his student seeing hims starring back at him with a perplexed look in his eye and that's when it donned on him… Naruto never considered the longterm effect of what he'll do once he kills Kakuzu.

It was something that he didn't consider. Kakuzu is a very strong ninja from the old days and that he'd need as much training to fight even with him though despite that he'd be at a disadvantage based off of experience. He never did think about what would await him after he achieved this goal, his purpose he supposed was that he would continually fight stronger ninja to prove his skills, but in his mind Kakuzu was that ninja that couldn't be beaten and never thought about the aftermath of killing him.

Naruto started walking again and passed Kisame up saying, "I guess I'll keep fighting." Kisame smirked and said, "Nothing worse than a ninja without a purpose." He started walking again following Naruto to the last place where their target was last seen.

* Two Days Later *

A dark skinned man with an afro and long sideburns sat in a run down factory with a number of ninjas surrounding him. All of which had Kumo headbands and a slash mark going through them. One of the Kumo nins asked, "Boss Tsuguri we found some information that there is going to be a shipment of good coming into port. We should take whats on the boat and sell it."

Tsuguri rubbed his chin and said, "Sounds good. We'll need enough money to establish ourselves and to finally get out of Lightning without trouble." He stood up and shouted, "Alright boys lets get to wo-"

He was cut off when the doors of the old factory were blown off the hedges and two rogue Kumo ninjas were tossed through it. The Kumo nins inside jumped to their boss and surrounded him to keep him safe. Tsuguri shouted, "Who's there!" He then saw two figures walk through the doors but because of the light shining in from outside he couldn't see their faces, but what he could make out was either a very short person or it was a child and the other was a very tall man carrying a large weapon on his back. The sound of one of their voices stopped his thoughts on who they could be.

"We're here to stake claim. The bounty on your head is 32,000,000 ryo…"

From what he could hear it was a child's voice and it was of course from the shorter one. He saw the shorter one pull out a long thin sword that was strapped to his back and aimed it at him and his men, "Boy you must have lost your mind… Kill'em both." Tsuguri said to two of his ninjas.

Doing as they were told both men jumped the distance between them and their two unwanted guests. Tsuguri watched on and what seemed like a blink of an eye he was stunned when the shorter one threw the sword and seemed to control it in mid air. The sword pierced his ninja's arms, legs, chest, and other parts of their bodies and then flew back to the owner.

Both men screamed in pain and the shorter one tugged on the sword and both ninjas slammed into each other their bodies looked like they were conjoined in weird angles. He heard a deep chuckle coming from the taller one and heard him say, "Since you weren't able to get the technique down for the Nuibari you had to use your own threading from your body."

The smaller one said, "I'll get the hang of it… For now I'll settle with what I have."

"Who the hell are you two?" Tsuguri said in a low demanding tone.

Both walked deeper into the factory and Tsuguri saw the small one lift his sword up and stab both men in their heads with no effort. After Tsuguri's eyes adjusted to his two guests he instantly recognized the taller one, "Y-Your Kisame Hoshigaki!"

"So you know my name, I should feel honored that someone of your rank knows about me."

Tsuguri grinned saying, "You kidding? The bounty on you is very high indeed and if I kill you I could cut a deal with one of the other nations. After all who wouldn't want the secrets of the Seven Swordsmen of Blood Mist Village?"

Kisame grinned and told him, "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm not fighting you… He is."

Tsuguri and his remaining ninjas looked at the smaller ninja who was wearing a black cloak and an orange hoodie under it, the hood was up so he couldn't see his face, "You're not serious are you? Fine… We'll kill him and then take you down next. Kill the pup!"

His remaining five ninjas jumped and surrounded both Kisame and his friend. Kisame said, "I'll step outside. Wouldn't wanna get in the way now would I?" When Kisame turned to leave Tsuguri jumped at Kisame pulling out two tomahawks that were strapped to his waist and attacked Kisame. The Kiri ninja turned around quickly and blocked with his massive weapon, "I thought I said that you would be fighting him? I guess we can take this outside." Kisame knocked Tsuguri's arms above him and kicked him in the gut knocking him through the wall and outside.

Tsuguri regained his senses and looked up seeing Kisame walk out and he heard the sounds of metal echoing from inside the building, "Why don't we sit quietly and wait for my partner to return?" Kisame sat down and crossed his legs keeping his toothy grin as he watched Tsuguri carefully.

He was about to attack the Kiri nin, but the sounds of screaming, panic, and other sounds filled the old building as he heard his men shout in terror. This made sweat build on his brow making him wonder what the hell was going on. Soon though all the noise inside died down and was left with silence, "Who the hell is that guy?" Tsuguri asked Kisame.

"A prodigy…" was all the shark man said.

The sounds of footsteps caught his attention and he looked at the hole in the wall and saw the small ninja walk out with his long sword in his right hand and another black sword that was shorter than the other and both covered in blood. Kisame asked, "You have a knack for this job Naruto I'm impressed."

"Naruto? You don't mean the Namikaze's boy do you?" Tsuguri asked taken back by the name. Kisame stood up and grabbed the top of Naruto's hood and pulled it off and Tsuguri saw the traits of a Namikaze, the golden blonde hair and the blue eyes, "This can't be can it? This child beat my men and was able to escape Konoha? This boy has a Kill-on-Sight issued on his head? This is ridiculous!"

"Remember gaki we need his body and face to be recognizable, so don't go too overboard." Kisame said to Naruto.

Naruto started to walk toward Tsuguri, then he picked up the pace and walked faster and faster until he started running at him. Tsuguri tossed both of his tomahawks at Naruto's head, but the blonde moved to the side avoiding both projectiles.

The cloud ninja smirked and did a few handsigns and aimed his hands in Naruto's direction thinking, 'I win!' The tomahawks stopped in mid air and shot back toward Naruto's back, 'My Lightning jutsu allows me to magnetize my body allowing steel objects that I've touched to control completely. I'll kill you right here and now!' The tomahawks got closer and closer, but before they could hit, Naruto stopped and backflipped over the two weapons missing him.

This shocked Tsuguri who grabbed his weapons when they got close enough to him. Naruto regained footing and dashed at his target and engaged him in a close combat battle with both ninjas blocking and trying to counter each other's attacks. Tsuguri was irritated because the boy seemed to be able to read his movements and counter accordingly. He managed to distance himself from Naruto and tossed his tomahawks in the air allowing him to use his jutsu, "Lightning Style: Lightning Shower!" He shot lighting out from his hands straight into the sky at his tomahawks.

The lightning surrounded the two weapons and kept them suspended in the air, then they began to spin at high speeds shooting volleys of lightning strikes at Naruto.

Naruto wasn't deterred from this attack and when the lightning bolt hit his body it swirled around Naruto for a moment and then disappeared and the same thing happened with all the other lighting strikes.

"What the hell is going on!" Tsuguri shouted. Naruto kept still and watched as Tsuguri's attack failed. When Tsuguri stopped the attack the two scorching hot weapons fell from the sky and landed in the middle of Tsuguri and Naruto a few feet away, 'Why didn't my attack work?' Tsuguri thought.

A moment passed and Naruto charged at him again shouting, "Wind Style: Raging Winds!" And shot out two bladed wind projectiles from his swords both heading toward Tsuguri who avoided them by ducking the first one and jumping over the second. When he looked back Naruto was gone, but he heard a voice above him.

"Wind Style: Spinning Dust Blades!" Naruto was above Tsuguri and held both blades above his head and proceeded to do a front flip and turing his body into a massive bladed wind attack.

Tsuguri watched as Naruto spun at high speeds toward him and he quickly ducked to the side and avoided the attack and when Naruto hit the ground causing it to shake and kick dust up all around the area making it impossible for anyone to see through. He waited for the dust to settle and saw Naruto's Nuibari shoot out of the dust cloud and it had a black thread attached to it. He pulled out a kunai and knocked it away, but the sword seemed to follow him and he continually knocked the sword away. He knocked the sword away one more time and saw something shoot out of the dust cloud, it was his tomahawk. As it shot toward him he had to have precise timing and he caught his tomahawk by the handle, but then felt a sharp pain in his thigh.

He fell to his knees and saw his other tomahawk was in his leg, he looked around and saw Naruto standing on the opposite side of the dust cloud and coming out of Naruto's right arm was a long thread that was going inside the dust cloud. This whole time Naruto successfully kept Tsuguri's attention on the dust cloud having the ninja believe that he was still inside of it.

Tsuguri pulled the weapon out of his leg and watched as blood spilled out once it was removed. Naruto retracted his thread and sword and it came back into his hand. Tsuguri again tossed both his tomahawks in the air and did another series of handsigns and shouted, "Lightning Style: Stampeding Lighting Strikes!" Lightning surrounded both his hands and he grabbed both his weapons when they fell and then tossed them both at Naruto. The two weapons had lightning surrounding them and it took the form of two bulls.

Naruto stabbed both his swords in the dirt and did some handsigns as well shouting back, "Wind Style: Kamikaze Barrage!" Wind built up in the palm of his hands and he clasped both hands together and then quickly unclasped both hands shooting a massive ball of wind at the lightning bulls. When the two attacks collided there was an explosion of dust that had electricity shooting everywhere. When a few stray shots came to Naruto the same thing occurred, the lightning seemed to swirl around him and dissipate.

Tsuguri appeared behind Naruto and stabbed Naruto with a kunai behind his back and he whispered to Naruto, "I have your jutsu figured out. You have wind surrounding your body that's why my electricity wasn't affecting you, but since it's shielded you can't move from your spot. In order to be protected you needed to remain grounded to this spot." Tsuguri smiled in triumph.

Naruto turned his head to Tsuguri and said, "You figured out my plan, but remember… a good shinobi always has a backup plan."

At that moment blades shot out of the ground and all of them pierced Tsuguri in his chest, back, and legs. Blood dripped from his mouth as Naruto pulled himself off of Tsuguri's kunai and turned to face him, "Also a good shinobi would never leave himself wide open for an attack…"

Tsuguri's vision faded and eventually he went limp and died. The blades retracted back into the dirt allowing Tsuguri to fall down, the ground moved a little and coming up from the ground were four Naruto clones.

Kisame was a good distance away when he watched the fight and was impressed with the steps Naruto used to fight. When he used his Spinning Dust Blades and collided with the ground he had summoned those clones and commanded them to dig and since the clones have the byakugan it was easy for them to follow the real Naruto's movements and wait to strike, the blonde ninja had been playing with Tsuguri this whole time… no doubt wanting to get a better feel with his new sword and thread combo.

Naruto opened his coat and lifted up the hem of his orange hoodie and Kisame saw a stitching mark on Naruto's chest open up and falling from Naruto's body was a bloody heart.

"You risked your life to get a kill?" Kisame asked.

Naruto simply replied, "The only sure fire way to kill your opponent is to get up close and personal. No escape and no turning back once it happens and in the right mindset you'll always win." Kisame liked Naruto's thinking more and more. He walked over and picked up Tsuguri's body and said, "Alright let's get this body to the checkpoint and collect out cash." Naruto remained silent and followed after Kisame to collect their bounty.

As they walked Kisame heard a voice in his head.

_"Kisame."_

'Yes Leader?'

_"How did it go?"_

'Perfectly.' Kisame replied in his thoughts, 'However I still have my doubts.'

_"About?"_

'The kid seems eager to please Akatsuki… Almost too eager, when you told us to do some bounty hunting he didn't hesitate in voicing his opinion on wanting to do this.'

_"You believe he has an anterior motive?"_

'Don't we all?' Kisame then chuckled to himself making Naruto look at him. Kisame looked at Naruto and said, "I found today to be really funny gaki." Naruto looked back to the pathway and walked silently.

_"Kisame your job is to watch him carefully. The other members are watching Orochimaru's movements and with Kakuzu and Hidan in Iwagakure you're the only one capable of keeping a close eye on him. Madara doesn't seem to trust him… not yet anyway."_

Kisame glanced at Naruto and then replied, 'Don't worry I'll make sure that he doesn't betray us and if he does. Well then let's just say that Akatsuki will be collecting the bounty from Konoha.'

_"Lets just hope that doesn't happen, he is still a valuable asset to Akatsuki and his abilities seem to increase at a dramatic pace. I have to go, just remember keep him in line."_

'Roger that Leader.'

Kisame felt that the link was severed and kept walking alongside his future partner.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Rice Country *

In a dimly lit room sat a man on a throne like chair. His long black hair and white sickly pale skin could be seen from the little light in the room. The doors to the room opened up and the man opened his eyes, yellow eyes with black slits fell on a man before him.

The man had light gray hair tied in a ponytail, thick black rimed glasses, black eyes, and a cheeky grin on his face. He bowed and said, "Lord Orochimaru, we have received word from Iwa that our Sound ninjas didn't do so well in the exams and that they have failed. They are being returned home now."

The man chuckled and said, "Kukukuku, well so they failed at evaluating the Uchiha further and failed to kill the jinchuriki… Kill them before they even step foot on these lands. Akatsuki have been very active lately and it worries me. Kabuto, I don't want the sound ninjas that failed to return here alive, send the Sound Four to kill them."

"Yes Orochimaru-sama… What will we do now that our spies are no longer in Iwa to capture Sasuke Uchiha and as you've said Itachi Uchiha is far to strong to take alive." Kabuto asked.

Orochimaru frowned and said, "We must capture the boy on his return trip back to Konoha, trying to capture him in Iwa is useless and trying to sneak into Konoha would be suicide at this point." Orochimaru held out his right hand and a tattoo looking mark was imbedded into his palm that had the kanji for 'collar' on it. Orochimaru sneered saying, "Minato got the upper hand on me last time and because of this blasted seal if I were to step anywhere near Konoha he'd know instantly where I am."

Kabuto stood up and said, "Then I shall gather the Sound Four after the exams end along with a number of other sound ninjas to ambush the Leaf ninjas."

"Kakashi Hatake is amongst those ninjas that you will be fighting. I highly doubt Minato will go to these exams, but he always thinks things through. He might send Jiraiya as a stand in or even his wife. Either way we cannot just simply ambush them, we need to thoroughly think this through. We have enough time though, the exams won't start for awhile." said Orochimaru.

Kabuto bowed and said, "Yes Lord Orochimaru. I shall send the Sound Four off to kill them sir."

Orochimaru waved Kabuto off and remained seated in his room thinking of a way to capture Sasuke Uchiha.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* A Week Later: Konoha: Hokage's Office *

Jiraiya was in the office with Minato who was scattering paperwork everywhere. He was handling paperwork from Daimyos residing in Fire Country asking for protection from Konoha, Minato had to find out which ninjas were available, who was away on missions, and when and who could be checked to be bodyguards. Messengers kept coming back and forth sending messages to the ninjas on missions and bringing in paperwork of more documents that needed to be read.

Minato had tossed off his coat and flak jacket off and was feverishly writing everything down. Jiraiya sat silently thinking, 'I'm sorry Konoha but I think I'd be the first Kage in existence to commit suicide if I had to do all of this.'

"Man this is dreadful sensei." said Minato.

Jiraiya responded, "I don't doubt it."

The door opened again and both men looked to the door and saw Kushina smiling and carrying a basket saying, "Break time!"

Minato smiled and said, "Oh thank you Kushina-chan! I needed a good cooked meal!" Minato faked dread. Kushina walked over to him and moved some paperwork off of his desk and placed the basket down, "Jiraiya you can have some too. I knew you'd be here so I made more."

Jiraiya was a fan of Kushina's food like his student and whenever he was in Konoha he made it a point to visit them for dinner, "Arigatou Kushina-chan."

Kushina pulled out a plate of oni giri, some sushi, and other snack foods. She also pulled out a kettle saying, "I made some tea at home from my some of the leaves in my garden. I wanted to see how it came out."

Both men took a few of the foods and started snacking while Kushina started the kettle and grabbed three cups for them to enjoy. When they sat silently Minato looked at his wife and knew that he'd tread into dangerous waters, "Kushina… Have you talked to Tsunade yet?"

He saw that Kushina was about to drink her tea, but the cups stopped at her lips and he saw her eyes look over at him. Minato stared into her eyes and watched her set her cup down and say, "No I haven't… I didn't know I was suppose to." she said sarcastically.

Jiraiya didn't want to invade on this conversation so he sat quietly on the couch listening to the conversation.

"Kushina you should talk to her. After all she is family to you." Minato told her.

Kushina scoffed and said, "Some family. She only came back to Konoha after Dan died just to help me along through my pregnancy and then took off, I tried to convince her to stay… But she brushed it off and left. I can't say I understand what she's going through, but we were here for her we could've helped… If she wants to be independent then let her."

Minato sighed and ran his hand through his hair saying to her, "I know that you resent her for leaving, but she was going through a difficult time and she took Shizune under her wing. She blames herself for Dan's death and thought by running away she could escape his memory."

"That's just an excuse not a reason. She should've faced her past like we have and not went out dragging Shizune around like that." Kushina said finally taking a sip of her tea. Minato looked over at Jiraiya and saw that his sensei immediately held his arms up signaling that he wanted nothing to do with this.

"Minato-kun… it's not like I want to hate her for the rest of either of our lives, but if she's sorry for abandoning us then she needs to come and apologize to me face to face and don't try and talk her into it." Kushina said to her husband. Minato sighed and went back to eating. Kushina told Minato, "There is something I wanted to ask you Minato-kun."

Minato asked her what it was and she replied, "It's concerning Hinata's training."

He cocked and eyebrow asking, "Is it difficult?"

"Not in the least, matter of fact her skills in her clan's style is what was getting in the way. She's learning jutsu very quickly and her chakra control and byakugan only make it more entertaining." Kushina leaned back in her seat asking her husband, "I want to know if it'll be okay to teach her the Rasengan."

Minato and Jiraiya looked taken back by Kushina's words, but the look in Kushina's eyes said that she was dead serious about this. Minato told her, "Kushina that move is very dangerous you know that-"

"I do, but Hinata isn't the type to abuse a power like that. I plan on teaching Hinata a few more of my own personal jutsu as well." Kushina said not backing down, "Minato-kun I wouldn't ask this kind of permission from you. Hinata is ready for that jutsu."

Minato and Jiraiya exchanged glances and were a bit surprised by Kushina, she was never a jounin sensei and all her skills she kept tight in the family mostly teaching her children and occasionally help Minato with tweaking her family's fuinjutsu. Minato thought about it greatly as this wasn't something you could just say 'sure go ahead', the Rasengan was an A-Ranked offensive type jutsu and it's power wasn't to be taken lightly. Few ninjas knew this technique which was himself, Jiraiya, Kushina, Kakashi, Arashi, Haru, and Naruto, he doesn't like this jutsu to be spread around and only trusts a very few ninjas with this technique. Although if Kushina was going this far to wanting Hinata to learn this jutsu then he trusted her judgment.

"Kushina… Hinata can learn this jutsu, but only if you really explain the importance of this jutsu." said Minato. Kushina smiled and winked at her husband saying, "Don't worry I will. I have faith in Hinata's abilities." Kushina stood up and said, "Well I'm going back to the mansion to prepare for Hinata's training when she returns."

Minato responded to her, "But that's still sometime away Kushina."

"This is my first time really teaching someone other than our kids and I want Hinata to know that I really am impressed with her growth and I want to be sure that I do a good job." Kushina walked to the door and stopped in the doorway to blow her husband a kiss and then closed the door behind her as she left.

Jiraiya finished his tea and walked over to Minato's desk asking, "You sure that was a good idea? I've seen that girl Hinata and I don't quite see the skill Kushina vouches."

"She believes in Hinata and you know as well as I do what Kushina sees in ninjas. Maybe Hinata will become a force to reckon with." Minato said taking a few bites out of some of the oni giri, "I've always trusted Kushina's judgement as we should all."

"It's not that I don't trust her judgement it's just I don't see the skill in this particular Hyuuga." Jiraiya said as he sat on the desk, "Does she know that she is going to Iwa for the exams as your representative?"

Minato nodded, "Yes she does. It'll give her a chance to meet her rival yet again. I only hope that she can contain that fire she gets when she wants to fight." Jiraiya remembered the Jounin Exams many many years ago when Kushina was the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails and she fought to a draw with her then rival Mei Terumi. The exam took place in Kiri and both females although held back. Kushina because she refused to use the Kyuubi's power and Mei was hiding the fact that she was a bloodline user from the Yondaime Mizukage, so both didn't get their desired rematch for a long time to which Kushina came out on top.

It was after that fight that Kushina was regarded as the strongest kunoichi in the nations and Mei was incredibly fearsome as well earning a name for herself as well. Minato stood up and stretched saying, "I'll be sending Tsunade, Shizune, Hana, Inoichi, Hiashi, Itachi, and Shibi to Iwa so I need to send this information to Onoki. Knowing this group they'll reach Iwa a lot quicker than Kakashi and the others."

"So I'll be staying close by to make sure that our friend Orochimaru doesn't try anything." said Jiraiya.

Minato nodded and said, "With that seal I slapped on Orochimaru when he left is imbedded into his chakra and is impossible to get rid of unless you know the formula. I'll know when he's close by and his exact location." He looked at his desk and glanced at the photo of himself, Kushina, Arashi, Haru, and Naruto regretting that he didn't use a fuinjutsu on Naruto, but he trusted his son enough and now regretted that he didn't. He picked up the photo and stared at it running his thumb over Naruto's face, "Jiraiya… Spy on our old friend Danzo. Something is up with his recent activity and I don't like it."

Jiraiya smiled and said, "Done and done." He got off the desk and left the room. Minato placed the picture back down and opened the drawer to his desk pulling out a black scroll with a kanji for 'Key' and 'Obey' written on it. When Haru returns that's when they will start the process of tweaking the seal. Haru is gonna need as much help as she can get, though the beast might fight against them it'll have no choice but to help Haru. It's the only thing left to do before Haru leaves on her training mission. He put the scroll back in his desk and returned to his work.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Four Days Later: Land of Earth Border *

Kakuzu and Hidan have been silently following the Sound ninjas that left for awhile. The ninjas were down right scared of returning to their village and have been staying it off by going to other villages to relax, but sooner or later Kakuzu bet that Orochimaru wouldn't just leave them roaming about. The Sound ninjas were suppose to have an escort, but they killed them.

When they reached the border the two Akatsuki ninjas couldn't go any further. They needed to stay close by incase they got new orders.

Kakuzu closed his eyes and sent a mind link to Pain, "Leader." A moment went by and he heard Pain's voice.

_"What is it?"_

"The Sound ninjas are crossing the border."

_"Where?"_

"Southwest… It seems like they are delaying their return to their village."

_"Good. Sasori and Deidara will take over from here. Return to Iwa until I say otherwise."_

"Understood… How's Naruto's training going?"

_"Kisame and Naruto have captured a few ninjas in Kumo and are now in Kiri to try and capture the Demon Brothers. Apparently they were aides to Zabuza Momochi, but escaped capture. The bounty on them is small, but it's still some money we could use."_

"Got it. We found out some info as well concerning the jinchuriki named Roshi. It turns out that his abilities are Lava Release."

_"Kisame will need to handle him then. After the exams calm down all Akatsuki will focus on getting money and then we'll begin the capturing process."_

"Yes sir. Over and out." Kakuzu then cut his link with Pain and told Hidan, "We're heading back."

"Yeah, yeah let's go." Hidan said.

The two ninjas turned around and walked back to Iwa to await their next orders.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Next Day: Iwagakure: Training Ground 32 *

Kakashi had his Icha Icha book in hand and stood next to a few of his clones and all were looking down at his two worn out students. Both were exhausted and trying to stand themselves up. Kakashi had been working on Haru's hand to hand combat more and less on her weapons and with Sasuke he helped him more with his sharingan and tried to get his stamina up further.

"You two are doing good so far, but it's not enough. The exams are around the corner and you two have yet to get halfway." said Kakashi.

Haru shouted at him, "Well then let me use my damn shadow clones!"

"No can do. Let's keep it simple for right now, so how's the jutsu coming along Haru?" Kakashi asked.

Haru crossed her arms and said, "I've been concentrating like you've told me and so far it's not coming along well."

Kakashi looked at Sasuke asking him, "And what about you?"

Sasuke held his hand up and electricity surrounded his hand as he said, "I'm getting the stream of chakra down, but stabilizing it is still a problem without my sharingan."

"Good, then I stand corrected. Haru I'll work with you a little more and Sasuke will work with my clones. Okay let's get started." Kakashi closed his book and walked in front of Haru, "Let's start from the top."

"Okay sensei." said Haru.

Kakashi was about to start, but stopped when he sensed a chakra nearby and said, "It seems we have an uninvited guest. I'll take care of them and you start on getting that jutsu down Haru." Haru understood, sometimes when they trained they got a few Iwa nins spying on their training and reported this to Onoki. The Tsuchikage then allowed the gennin to practice in peace and ordered his ninjas to be no where near the training areas, but they sometimes had a trouble maker or two.

Kakashi brought his hands together and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Sasuke watched him leave and wondered where their unwanted guest was.

Standing on top of a small rocky hilltop was a very tall ninja with his body covered in a red armored suit, a red kasa hat, a black gi top, gloves, and boots, and a furnace on his back emitting steam. He was looking down at the Leaf gennin training with the Copy Nin Kakashi Hatake.

"You know your Tsuchikage said that no Iwa ninja were allowed near the training areas of the participating gennin."

The tall Iwa nin turned his head and saw Kakashi standing behind him. He spoke and his voice was deep, "I guess I didn't know that. I'll take my leave then." He started to walk to Kakashi slowly. Normally ninjas would be on guard, but Kakashi remained still and unemotional to this giant man walking toward him. Though once the man's arm brushed past Kakashi he felt a surge of chakra surround the man. Kakashi's eye widened and he spun around looking at the man's back, "Who are you if I might ask?"

The Iwa ninja stopped and turned his head and Kakashi saw his face, he had a mask similar to his own and he could see his light brown eyes. The man gave off an aura of power that made Kakashi uneasy around the man. The man spoke again saying, "My name is Han… Tell your jinchuriki to be careful otherwise she might get crushed."

Kakashi narrowed his eye and said, "Is that a threat?" Kakashi's voice dangerously low.

"Not in any way Kakashi-san. Just a precaution." said Han and walked off back to the village. The tense feeling overcoming Kakashi faded with each step Han took going away. The cyclops ninja turned and went back to his students to continue their training.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Land of Water *

Naruto was currently in combat with Gozu and Meizu the Demon Brothers of Kiri. Both brothers had a gauntlets on their arms that covered their whole forearm to their hands with Gozu's being on his right arm and Meizu's on his left. Oxygen masks covering the bottom half of their faces and they had horns sticking out of their headbands giving them a more monstrous appearance.

However despite their appearance Naruto was tossing them around easily. Naruto ran at the older brother Gozu and stabbed Nuibari into the palm of his right arm and saw his sword easily pierced it and pinned him to a tree.

Meizu ran at Naruto ready to poison him with his gauntlet, they lace the nails of the gauntlets with poison to kill their opponents. Naruto kept his right hand on his sword pinning Gozu to the tree and merely turned his body and grabbed the wrist of Meizu's gauntlet and said, "You're useless without these."

Naruto charged wind chakra through his left arm and it soon surrounded the gauntlet and shredded it to pieces cutting into it easily. Naruto quickly shot the same amount of wind chakra through his arm and sword and it tore through Gozu's gauntlet, arm, and destroyed most of the tree in the process. He let go of his sword and attacked Meizu shouting, "Wind Style: Berserk Corkscrew!" Naruto sent wind chakra circulating around his right fist and punched Meizu in the gut and watched as the wind shredded through his outfit and into his gut sending him spinning and flying into a number of trees dying from the impact of Naruto's attack.

"Meizu!" shouted the older brother. He reached over and grabbed the sword with his left arm and pulled it out running at Naruto with it in an attempt to stab him with it. Without even looking Naruto flexed his left arm out and his Black Mamba sword shot out of the sleeve and he aimed it at Gozu's head.

Soon Gozu stopped moving and his headband shattered to pieces and he remained standing there dead. Naruto sighed and a moment later Gozu's body fell to the ground, "Some competition you two turned out to be."

Kisame jumped down from the trees saying to the blonde, "I remember those two when they were in the academy and you killed them easily. Bravo." Kisame grabbed Gozu's body and watched Naruto grab Meizu's body.

"Their bounties combined came to 230,000,000 ryo." Naruto told him. Kisame nodded, "Yeah they weren't very big named ninjas. They were just followers of Zabuza… Speaking of Zabuza I heard that he and pupil Haku were taken down by your sister's team."

Naruto remained silent about the news. He knew about that already from what Arashi said was written in the report, but the details of that mission were kept amongst a few ninjas.

Kisame used his free hand to pull out a map and said, "Theres a checkpoint a days travel from here. I know these lands well and we'll be able to avoid any ANBU with that eye of yours."

"I can't see very far. From what Madara told me these eyes are very powerful, but the down side is it's field of vision was lessened."

"Meaning?" asked Kisame.

Naruto could only speculate, "I suppose my distance view is lesser than an average byakugan. I don't know how far a normal byakugan user can see, but from what he says then I can't see very far."

Kisame said to Naruto, "That eye is still very deadly and you can use it very well despite only getting few information from Madara."

Naruto's gaze turned to Kisame and stared at him wondering how much of a close eye Madara was keeping on him. Kisame was obviously teamed up with him to make sure that he plays ball it's essentially the same with Zetsu when he was inside his body for those years. He wonders how often reports are being let out to Pain and if Pain knows then Madara surely knows. Right now there was nothing Naruto could do but follow orders like he was suppose to.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

I hope you all liked this chapter as I've been reading in my reviews a lot of you wanted more Naruto in these chapters, so I hope this chapter had what you've wanted. Regrettably the next two chapters Naruto will make a small appearances as they will be about the finals. I'm going to get right to work and I should have the next chapter out next week. Thanks again for waiting!


	28. The Finals

Chapter 28: The Finals

I'm sorry for the late update I've just had a train of bad luck come my way and it's irritated me to no end. I'm trying to get everything rolling again and update like I used to, but we'll see how that goes.

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* Four Days Before the Finals: Konoha *

Minato, Jiraiya, and a large crowd of ninjas and civilians stood at the entrance gate of Konoha they were all about to say goodbye to the ninjas going to Iwagakure to watch the finals for the exams.

Kushina was wearing a long sleeve orange shirt with a black vest over it that had her clan's red swirl symbol on the back, a long black dress that had a long slit going up showing her right leg. She tied two parts of her hair into buns that were on the side of her head with the rest of her red hair hanging down, the last thing she had were ten kunai strapped around her waist. A lot of the women in the crowd envied her beauty.

The other ninjas included Tsunade, Hana and Shizune who wore their same attire. Inoichi who had on a long black coat and the standard Leaf attire. Hiashi had on his kimono with a larger black kosode over that and the Hyuuga clan's symbol on his back. Itachi had on his ANBU attire except for his mask and Shibi had on a his high collared/hooded jacket that covered almost all of face leaving his glasses visible and a large gourd on his back. Standing next to Hana were her ninken wearing blue vests with two red fang marks on the back.

Once all of the ninjas were accounted for Minato said, "You guys have everything you'll need?" Kushina nodded telling her husband, "Yes we do! We'll get to Iwagakure fast and be back before you know it!" All the others looked eager to go so Minato didn't say much, "Okay then. Tell our gennin that we await their return." Kushina and the others nodded and turned to face the path leading out of Konoha and all of them disappeared from view running at high speeds.

Jiraiya leaned over to Minato asking, "Shall we fortify the village now? A brute of our forces just left." Minato whispered, "Yeah. However with mine and your combos, Orochimaru doesn't stand a chance. Remember sensei that Orochimaru is cautious, not stupid. You know that as well as anyone." Jiraiya didn't say anything at that and saw that Minato started walking away most likely to set up some kind of plan should Orochimaru decide to attack.

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* Two Days Before the Finals: Akatsuki Hideout *

Two Akatsuki members were in a cave looking at the hologram image of Pain. One of the Akatsuki was a blonde haired man with a half ponytail and a bang covering his left eye, his visible right eye was blue, and he had on black nail polish on his fingers and toes. The other member was a short hunchbacked man with dark tanned skin, most of his head was bald, but he had four streaks of hair going down his head and sticks up in the back.

Pain asked the two, "Sasori what of the Sound ninjas?"

Sasori reported, "We decided to follow them. They met up with a few more Sound ninjas and attacked them, but the new Sound ninjas that showed up overwhelmed them and killed them. I recognized my subordinate as Kabuto although I couldn't feel the connection with him. Orochimaru must have severed that link." Deidara added, "We also didn't get far to track them. They headed into an underground passage, when we went inside there were numerous traps laid out for us and I had to blow that place sky high for us to get out."

"I see. For now stay in Rice Country and if you find anything that can lead us to at least one of Orochimaru's locations then let me know."

"Will do Leader." Sasori and Deidara said at the same time. Pain's hologram disappeared and left the two ninjas.

When they walked out Deidara held out his hand and a visible mouth could be seen in the palm of his hand, it spat out some clay and he molded it in his hand making a bear figure. Deidara tossed it in the air and made a handsign with his right hand making the small clay figure erupt into a cloud of smoke and appearing from it was a giant sized figure of the clay figure. When they left the hideout and they were a good distance away Deidara said, "You'll appreciate this work of art this time Master Sasori!"

Sasori said to him, "I doubt it. Art is meant to be adored for many many years." Deidara snuffed at that and did the same handsign with his right hand saying, "No Master Sasori. Art is… A BLAST!" After he shouted the last part the hideout exploded destroying most of the surrounding area. After the mushroom cloud was created Deidara looked to Sasori telling him, "That is real art something that happens briefly."

They both turned away to do as Pain had instructed, but not before Sasori said, "Fine art is something that lasts forever… That is how art is meant to be viewed."

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* One Day Before the Finals: Team Kushina: Land of Earth *

Everyone was sitting around a campfire eating a few snack bars they brought with them for the trip. Kushina looked over at Hana and saw her silently feeding her three ninken, the girl had hardly said a word since they left Konoha and she knew why, she was nervous about seeing Arashi after finding out what Minato did. Kushina looked around and her team and saw Inoichi and Hiashi talking to each other about their daughters, Itachi was sitting by himself staring at the fire. Tsunade and Shizune were talking to each other about their trips and Shibi was standing by himself looking at the scenery.

Kushina stretched her arms and called out to Hana, "Hey come join me. I could use the company." Hana looked the older kunoichi in the eyes and slowly walked over to her and sat down next to her looking glum. Kushina smiled widely and tossed her arm over Hana's shoulder asking, "Why so serious?"

Hana shook her head slowly saying, "Nothing's wrong Kushina-sama."

"Something's wrong if you're referring to me with the 'sama' suffix." said the red head. Hana sighed, "It's a sign of respect while on missions. Actually I might have to get used to calling you that."

Kushina shook Hana slightly still smiling, "That I won't allow. You'll call me Kushina with the 'san', 'chan', or 'kaa-san'. I won't settle for anything else, now listen when you see my son I want you to bravely talk to him face to face alone and see how he feels about this whole thing." Hana was looking at Kushina out of the corner of her eye and nodded weakly, "I'll try, but what if it's over?"

She expected this question and had only one response, "You'll never know unless you ask. Also Hana-chan if you still love my son after this and you decide to fight for him, then I'll have a whole new level of respect for you." Kushina could see that Hana was surprised by her words, "Kunoichi wouldn't have anything if they didn't fight for what they wanted. Don't you agree?" Hana was still uncertain that things will be okay just like that, but she did know that she loves Arashi and she will fight for him, "Arigatou Kushina-san."

"No problem Hana-chan. Now we should get some rest all of us!" she said to everyone in her group.

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* Same Time: Land of Waves *

Naruto and Kisame were at a rest stop dining on ramen. Naruto had beef flavored ramen while Kisame had shrimp flavored. Kisame wiped his mouth and asked Naruto, "What kind of ninja do you want to be?"

He turned his head slightly to his left looking at Kisame wanting more clarification, "What do you mean?" Kisame drank the rest of his broth saying afterward, "I mean what type of ninja are you? I'm a water based sword master, Deidara is an explosives guy, Sasori is the puppet master, Kakuzu is close quarters and elemental specialist, Hidan is a kind of torture and close quarters fighter as well, but what about you?"

Naruto took a few more bites of his ramen and answered, "I do have a certain way I want to fight."

"Mind telling me what it is?" asked Kisame. Naruto shook his head, "So that this information can reach Madara's ears… No way. You'll have to wait and see for yourself." Naruto went back to his ramen after talking. Kisame grinned and thought, 'He's a real hard ass. I guess I have to give him some credit for speaking to me like that despite how badly I could kill him.'

Naruto asked Kisame, "What are we doing exactly?" Kisame gave Naruto his shark grin responding, "Leader doesn't exactly trust you with Akatsuki's plans until he knows how faithful you are to our organization." Naruto looked to Kisame and didn't pry any further. Both remained seated eating their ramen.

'Kisame.'

The fishman stopped eating after hearing Pain's voice.

'What is it?'

'Come back to the headquarters immediately.'

'Alright. What happened?'

'Plan's changed. Get here as quickly as possible.'

Kisame wondered what was wrong since the link was cut so abruptly. Kisame got up and set some money down telling Naruto, "We have to go now. Leader wants us back at the base ASAP, so let's get moving." Naruto didn't argue and did as he was told standing up and walking off with Kisame back to the base all the while wondering what happened.

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* Day of the Finals: Iwagakure *

Onoki and a few of his entourage and Arashi were at the gates waiting for their visitors for the finals. The preparations were all set up and the stadium was ready, the civilians and ninjas who were able to attend all ready have their seats and a few Daimyos showed up and are currently waiting. Arashi's arms were folded over his chest and kept tapping his finger on his arm eagerly awaiting the Konoha ninjas.

Onoki's heightened senses let him hear that they had visitors, "It's a small group, but I think that this is the Leaf ninjas." Arashi could sense it, he can feel his mother's chakra as well as Hana's chakra. Soon after eight ninjas and three ninken appeared right before Onoki and everyone else.

Kushina bowed and said, "Good morning Tsuchikage-sama." Onoki returned the bow and said, "Good of you to come Kushina-san. I hope the trip wasn't too exhausting."

"Not at all. These are my entourage, Tsunade Senju, Shizune Kato, Itachi Uchiha, Hiashi Hyuuga, Inoichi Yamanaka, and Shibi Aburame." Kushina introduced each of her team members. Onoki and Tsunade locked gazes, "Tsunade-hime I heard rumors that you've returned to Konoha."

"Yeah not so long ago actually. I can see that you're still the old fence sitter you've always been." Tsunade retorted. The Iwa ninjas were watching as the two ninjas stared the other down. Kushina walked up to Tsunade and put a hand on her shoulder whispering, "Let's not." Tsunade nodded and looked away from the Tsuchikage.

Onoki asked Kushina, "I was hoping that your husband would show up I wanted to talk to him in person about the marriage." Arashi and Hana slightly flinched at this topic. Kushina put on a happy face saying, "Oh yes he told me about that. Let's talk about that in a private moment." She looked around and her eyes landed on Kurotsuchi and her father Kitsuchi recognizing the man from the war, but also remembers seeing his daughter during the post war when Konoha and Iwa came to a halt of their war at the time it was Hiruzen Sarutobi and the Sandaime Kazekage who would meet with Onoki to end the war.

An Iwa ninja appeared next to Onoki whispering something in his ear. Onoki nodded and told everyone, "It seems that the Mizukage is here earlier than expected."

He saw it for an instant, Arashi saw that spark in his mother's eye at the mention of the Mizukage, 'Kaa-san don't do anything stupid.' he thought to himself. Shizune stepped up and said, "Maybe we can see our Leaf ninjas before the finals start."

Kushina agreed, "Yeah I'd like to be able to see my daughter." Onoki nodded and said, "Of course, Kurotsuchi take them to the Leaf ninjas locker room."

"Hai Tsuchikage-sama!" Kurotsuchi said, she held her arm out saying, "This way Lady Kushina."

"So well mannered. Thanks, let's go everyone." Kushina said to her team. They started to walk by and Kurotsuchi saw that the Inuzuka was glaring at her and not to be looked down on she returned the stare and a smirk to go with it. Kushina passed up her son and whispered, "Hana-chan isn't going to make it easy for you."

Itachi stood next to Arashi asking him, "How's Sasuke's training?" Arashi looked at Itachi telling him, "He's coming along fine. Kakashi's training has really helped him, but his sharingan still hasn't matured yet." Itachi then stood silently next to Arashi and both men saw Hana walk over, she briefly stopped in front of Arashi and promptly stepped on his foot making the man wince slightly. She walked off following the other ninjas. Both the men watched her walk away and Itachi said to him, "She's pissed."

"Yeah I know." Arashi responded sadly, then both started walking off to see the gennin as well. Onoki needed to stay to greet his arrivals.

* Leaf Ninja Locker Room *

The Leaf gennins were somewhat separated while their senseis were standing off to the side looking at them. Each of them understood that the chances of fighting each other are very high and that they needed to remember that this was to determine if they were worthy enough to move up in rank. Haru sat silently close to a corner looking around at her friends, the only ones who looked nervous were Ino and Hinata, the eager ones were Lee and TenTen, unreadable expressions were Shino, Sasuke, and Neji. If Haru had to categorize herself she would put herself at anxious. Her eyes drifted to the tournament chart and walked over to it to look at the contestants and looked at the name of the person who she is about to fight.

All she knows about him is that he is a water style user, he has a giant weapon on his back, but his confidence is something she thinks is a front. Maybe he acts the part of being they shy guy. Before her thoughts could drift any further she and everyone else in the room looked to see the doors open and in walked her mother.

Kushina had a huge smile on her face, "Hey kids! How you guys feeling?" All the gennins stood up and greeted Kushina out of a sign of respect to the woman, the kunoichis especially. Then they saw the other ninjas walk in knowing that they were now to perform in front of family members. Kushina looked over at Kurenai and made a head gesture. Kurenai understood and the two kunoichis walked over to a corner in the room to speak alone, "Kurenai-chan how was Hinata-chan's training?"

"It went great. As you suggested I taught Hinata a few genjutsu moves including how to dispel them. She also wanted to learn to use that sword."

Kushina nodded understanding what she was hearing, "I expected that, but let me guess you could only teach her-"

"Yes, I could only teach her kunai techniques and had her adapt it to a sword. I'm not that proficient with swords." Kurenai told her. Kushina nodded telling her, "I was able to teach her a little, but it wasn't enough. Haru also taught her a few moves as well and added with her kunai handling she should be able to be mediocre with a sword, but we'll just have to wait and see."

They watched as the gennins talked to their elders getting last minute advice on what they could do, but Kushina noted that Neji Hyuuga was standing away from Hinata and Hiashi and she knew why, the boy still resented his uncle for his father's death. Her attention was then brought to a little blonde girl who was now standing before her smiling brightly.

Kushina hugged her and said, "Your tou-san is proud of you for making it to the finals. You plan on winning the whole thing?"

"Damn straight kaa-san." Normally Kushina would reprimand her for her language, but she made an exception knowing that Haru was just excited. Haru shouted, "Hey kaa-san I learned a new kind of jutsu when I was training with Kakashi-sensei. I plan on showing it off today." Kushina patted her on the head and said that she was proud of her.

Meanwhile across the room Hiashi was looking at his daughter processing what she just said, "You don't want to use the family's taijutsu and instead you want to use a sword to fight."

"Yes, Kushina-sensei taught me a lot in a short amount of time and I didn't get the chance to show in the first two phases." She said looking at the floor. Hiashi thought about it and he couldn't tell her no just based off that if he did then there was no point of her going to live with the Namikaze family it would defeat the whole purpose, "Hinata you've always done things to gain approval, but it seems that you're doing this for a whole other reason."

She meekly looked up at her father thinking, 'He always knows what I'm thinking.'

"Just do what you think is necessary and if it makes you happy then I'll support your decision." Hiashi said not changing his expression. Hinata bowed to her father saying, "Arigatou tou-san."

Kushina watched from afar and thought, 'Well he's trying and thats the good thing.'

Hana was standing with her ninken over by a wall watching as everyone was talking amongst themselves, she could smell Arashi's scent moving closer to her and looking over she saw him lean on the wall right next to her smiling at her. Hana ignored him and stared straight ahead, Arashi frowned and looked down at her ninken who were staring at him wagging their tails happily. The blonde ninja got on one knee and began to pet each dog saying, "Hey guys is momma still mad at me?"

All three dogs let out a small bark. Arashi smiled and looked at Hana who was looking down at him, "Is momma mad about this whole village marriage thing?" Again the dogs barked. Arashi looked up at Hana and decided to play the unfair card, "Okay what if I got on my hands and knees in front of momma and begged her to take me back. Do you think that'll work?"

Hana faced him a bit taken back by what he said and she looked at her ninken who barked again. Arashi smiled and said, "Okay boys I'll do that."

"Arashi-kun that's not fair and you know it." She told him. Arashi didn't listen and went from kneeling on one knee to both and placing his face inches from the ground in front of her. Hana looked around and saw that everyone was too busy talking to the gennin to notice and when she looked at her ninken they were laying down next to him facing her whimpering with their puppy dog faces. She quickly got on her knees saying to him, "Arashi-kun stand up this is humiliating for a man of your strength to be doing this."

She could hear him chuckle amusingly, "So far the men in my family throw pride away and humiliate themselves for someone they love." She stared at him and then she heard him speak again, but caught the sincerity in his voice, "Hana-chan… A long time ago I told you that you were the one I wanted and I meant that. There is no one else except you and I will do anything to get you back. Just name it and I'll do it."

Hana was still looking at the man she loves and how far his willing to go for her to forgive him. She knew that it wasn't his fault and that the Hokage set this up with the Tsuchikage, but when she was told this news she hated Arashi thinking that he may have had a hand in it somehow. Although seeing him how he is now threw that out the window. She smiled but he couldn't see it, "Arashi-kun you're an asshole you know that. Turing my own ninken against me knowing full well that they adore you."

Arashi looked up smiling again, "Does this mean that I am forgiven?" She stood up and said, "I'll forgive you when you publicly come out and say that you won't do the marriage." He was on his feet quickly and it startled Hana, "Done and done my love. I'll tell the Tsuchikage to his face that this marriage is off." He was about to hug her, but Hana pointed at his chest keeping him from doing so, "Not so fast you're not forgiven yet."

"Alright I get it, but can I take you out to dinner as an apology?"

She didn't answer and instead walked away calling her dogs to follow her. Arashi thought, 'I hate when she plays hard to get.' He sensed a presence next to him and saw Itachi standing beside him, "Hey Itachi, how did your talk with Sasuke-kun go?"

Itachi looked at Arashi out of the corner of his eye saying to the blonde, "I can't see how it is that you can beat me." Arashi turned his head confused and Itachi enlightened him, "I've never seen a man of your caliber do something as shameful as getting on your hands and knees and begging a woman to take you back."

Arashi rubbed the back of his head saying, "You should see my father when he does it. He forgot about his marriage anniversary to my mom five years ago, I remember that day very well. A very dark day at the mansion."

"Still though."

"Look Itachi you might not see it but I'm head over heels in love with that girl. My village might spite me for not making the pact, but I'd do it again and again because I love Hana Inuzuka which I hope one day will become Hana Namikaze and I know it kills you that we won't be able to fight as much once I married you'll just have to accept it." Arashi said still smiling. Itachi continued to stare at him and said, "Why did that last part sound like I'm the other?"

Arashi patted Itachi on his shoulder and walked away to where Haru and his mother were standing. Kushina, Haru, and Kurenai saw the scene with Arashi and Hana. Kurenai said to Kushina, "That's some kid you've got there Kushina-sama."

"Yeah I know." she said with a grin on her face.

The locker doors opened and two Iwa nin walked in saying, "The Leaf ninja representatives follow me to your private seating as well as the jounin instructors."

The second Iwa said, "All Leaf gennin follow me. We'll be starting soon."

Everyone said one last good luck to the gennin and left the room. Haru and Hinata stood next to each other giving each other a friendly stare down, "Hey Hinata-chan if and when we do fight I don't want you going easy on me okay?"

Hinata nodded responding to Haru, "Hai Haru-chan. I promise that I'll fight you with all I have."

Haru looked ahead and followed her friends out of the locker room taking deep breaths as they walked down the many halls.

* Kage Stand *

High above the stadium sat Kushina alongside a suna nin and his bodyguard. Both men not saying a word, Kushina had chosen Tsunade as her bodyguard while in the Kage stand looking below at the battlefield. Tsunade stood a little behind Kushina with a straight posture something that Kushina found odd since this woman was more of a free spirit one who didn't care for appearance.

"Ku-chan!"

Kushina froze hearing that old nickname. She looked behind her and saw Mei standing at the entrance next to the Tsuchikage, "Hey Mizukage-sama." said Kushina standing up. Mei walked over to her and the two hugged briefly, "Now Ku-chan I thought I said that you were exempt from calling me by my title." Mei looked at Tsunade and greeted her, "Hello Tsunade-sama, it's been a long time."

Tsunade smiled and told her, "It's has been a long time Mei-chan." Tsunade looked behind Mei and saw a familiar face, "Well if it isn't Ao."

Ao bowed to Tsunade and Kushina, "Hello Tsunade-sama, Kushina-sama." Both the kunoichi greeted him as well, but Onoki broke the conversation saying, "Now that greetings are done with let's be seated now."

Tsunade mumbled some insult to Onoki and Mei sat in the empty seat next to Kushina. Looking out at the massive stadium was surely a sight, the whole battlefield was designed for all kinds of elemental users with a giant pool of water in the center of the field and many trees surrounding the edge of the field. Onoki looked at the audience seeing everyone seated and waiting for the finals to start, but it wasn't the jam packed crowed he had hoped for. Many empty seats could be seen as the civilians can't really pay for the tickets to come and watch the events.

* Stadium Doorway *

All the gennin participating were standing in a straight line by the one they'll be fighting. The Iwa ninja told all of them, "Alright listen up! The doors will open and you'll follow me out to the field and you will remain next to your opponent. The Tsuchikage will give one last speech and then the matches will begin. You have your own box up top to watch the matches from. Do you all understand so far."

"Yes sir!" a majority of them shouted. A sound could be heard coming from the large metal doors, "Alright let's give the crowd a show." The doors opened and the gennin were treated to a roar of applause. Walking through the doors following the Iwa ninja they could see that the stadium was huge and Haru noted that it was much bigger than the stadium back home. As they neared close to the center the moved around the giant pool and the Iwa nin instructed them to stand in a straight line next to their opponent.

Onoki stood up and grinned, he then did something that took the gennin by surprise. The old kage started to levitate in mid air high enough for the whole stadium to see, when everyone saw him they all calmed down and waited for the Tsuchikage to speak.

"People of Iwagakure and visitors of the other great nations I thank you for coming to watch the fights that we have laid out before you!" A brief round of applause went on before Onoki rose his hand for them to stop, "Iwagakure, Konohagakure, Kirigakure, and Sunagakure gennins have made it this far into the finals and shall prove the strength of their own village and prove their right of passage into becoming Chunnin! I don't want to ramble to long so without further delay let's have the first round of this tournament begin!" Again the crowd applauded and Onoki floated back into the Kage stand with the others.

"Let's have Gaara and Rock Lee step forward shall we." said an Iwa nina. Gaara and Rock Lee to two steps forward separating themselves from the line, "The rest of you will go to the gennin box located there." The Iwa nin pointed to a private box and when they all saw it they started to walk over to it. When Haru passed up Lee she gave him a bit of encouragement, "Hey Lee you better win so that we can fight in the finals! I'm dying to see how strong you are!"

Lee gave her a thumbs up, "I shall do my best. I want to be able to return home and show Sakura-chan that I was able to win this tournament." Haru gave him a smirk and walked by Gaara and noticed that his eyes never fell off of her. When she decided to stare at him for a moment longer the Iwa nin shouted to her, "Let's get a move on Namikaze!"

Haru ignored the man's words and started walking on her own accord, but stopped when Gaara said, "Haru… What I said was true the only reason I came to this tournament was to fight your brother Naruto, but it seems that you've surpassed my initial summarization of your skills… Now I am here to defeat you."

She gave Gaara a smirk responding, "Glad to hear that I impressed you."

"Namikaze I won't repeat myself!"

Haru looked at the Iwa nin then back to Gaara and ran off to join the other gennin. Unlike back home the gennin box was a dug out with two Iwa ninja activating a barrier so no attacks could get in or out and once Haru was inside they gave the referee the go ahead sign. Sasuke, Ino, and Hinata sat next to Haru wondering what she and Gaara were talking about.

Lee stood across from Gaara taking his taijutsu stance staring down Gaara who at the moment wasn't even paying attention to him, the sand ninja's eyes were glued to Haru. The Iwa nin was in between both gennins asking, "Alright listen in the finals anything goes even killing your opponent, but I'm going to try and stop that from happening. Go all out if you need to. Do either of you have any questions for me?"

Lee shook his head eager to get this match started. When the Iwa nin looked at Gaara he saw that he still wasn't paying attention, "Hey brat have you heard-"

"Just start the match." Gaara said irritated.

The Iwa nin gritted his teeth and calmly stepped away from both boys and rose one hand, "Okay… Begin!"

(Okay the fight pretty much goes the same way as in the cannon. It's not that I'm lazy it's just that I can't think of any other way of doing the fight without coming close to how it originally was.)

Gaara appeared out of the ground his layer of sand that covered his body repairing itself quickly. Lee's muscles were practically screaming from the amount of pain he put himself through, but because he has a high threshold for pain it didn't bother him to the extent of screaming out. Haru was speechless at the sheer power Lee was able to produce, first dropping all that weight and moving so fast that he was almost invisible, and being able to open five of those Inner Gates made her see Lee's skills in a new light. Haru was surrounded by strong ninjas who battered their bodies to get to the level of strength they earned.

Kushina and Tsunade were amazed by Lee's taijutsu prowess and the amount of damage he's able to take, but both knew that it was over.

Onoki smiled and said, "That Leaf gennin sure turned some heads. This much excitement and it's only the opening match."

Once the sand repaired on Gaara he walked over to Lee and saw that he didn't crawl away and remained rooted to the ground on both knees giving him a smile. Gaara stood in front of Lee and the sand wrapped around his body slowly.

The Leaf ninjas and all the other spectators were watching as he was prepared to kill Lee. Onoki looked to the proctor and made a head nod to him, the proctor acted quick and rushed to the two.

Gaara aimed his hand at the sand surrounding Lee and asked him, "Why are you smiling?"

Lee muttered out, "B-Because… it was fun." Gaara's hand twitched momentarily and he looked at the other gennin and saw fear in all of their eyes except for Shino, Neji, Sasuke, Masashi, Yuki, and Hiroki who had looks like they were expecting this, but when his eyes fell on Haru he could see sincerity instead which got to him. The proctor grabbed Gaara's wrist saying, "Stop there Gaara."

The red head gennin looked back at Lee and said, "I've had a change of heart." Those words startled both Lee and the proctor and Gaara quickly gripped his fist and the sand crushed Lee's body making the boy yelp in pain. Everyone froze as the sand moved away from Lee and back to Gaara's gourd, the proctor caught Lee before he fell and he heard Gaara say, "He's alive, but I crushed a few bones in his body. He'll still be able to fight just not anytime soon."

Gaara walked away and toward the gennin box. When he approached the barrier was dropped and Temari asked Gaara, "What was that about?"

He didn't answer her and glanced over to Haru who now had a look of appreciation which took Gaara back. He walked to the wall and leaned against it saying, "It was nothing."

The proctor called for some doctors who put Lee on a stretcher and a swirl of leaves appeared next to him and he saw Might Guy.

"Lee." said Guy.

Lee looked at Guy and was sad, "Guy-sensei. I'm sorry that I couldn't-"

Guy smiled and lightly bopped him on the head telling him, "Don't worry about it Lee. You live to fight another day, but this means that we're going to up your training when you're better."

Lee smiled at Guy and raised his right arm the best he could and saluted him, "Hai Guy-sensei." Guy watched the doctors take him away and returned to his seat. The proctor shouted, "The winner of round one is Gaara of Sunagakure." The crowd began to talk amongst each other about the fight and how even though Rock Lee lost most of the talk was about the underdog and his fighting spirit.

Onoki looked over to Kushina saying, "I haven't seen a fighting spirit like that in a long time. That Rock Lee deserves a shot as Chunnin."

Kushina smiled at the old man saying, "I think so too, but that's not up to me. Who's in the next round?"

Onoki's bodyguard handed him a list and Onoki told them, "Next up is Getsumaru vs Yuki."

Mei giggled and said, "Getsumaru has skills, but he relies to heavily on one particular jutsu. Though she still shouldn't take him lightly."

Onoki responded, "Yuki is no push over, that girl has the ability of the Explosion release."

Everyone looked shocked. The Suna representative asked, "Is she Gari's kid?" Onoki looked at the middle aged man telling him about her, "Yuki is his illegitimate child. Officially she doesn't belong to the clan, but after showing how strong she is in the academy they decided to adopt her. This should be interesting."

"The next match will begin! Will Yuki and Getsumaru make your way to the arena!"

Yuki and Getsumaru walked out from the gennin's box and toward the center. The two stood and faced each other in a stare down.

"Okay you two will be beginning the second round. You two ready?"

Yuki responded, "Hai."

"Yes I'm ready." Said Getsumaru.

Yuki looked around the crowd and saw her clansmen sitting in a reserved section just for them. All of them with a cold demeanor knowing that they expect her to show off her skills.

"Alright… Begin!"

Wasting no time Yuki ran at Getsumaru. The young boy said, "You're a pretty impatient one."

Getsumaru jumped away from her and landed on the water standing above the surface, "Water Style: Hidden Mist!" the water began to ripple and a mist was starting to form at least waist high.

Yuki didn't hesitate and ran on the water and punched her fist to the ground shouting at him, "You won't be able to hide from me!" An explosion followed dissipating the mist and shooting water into the air. Getsumaru was stunned for a moment and jumped into the water and under it's surface and Yuki quickly retreated by jumping off the water and back on land.

Sasuke watched the battle and asked, "What jutsu is that? I've never seen someone use that before."

Hiroki walked up next to Sasuke saying, "That's her clan's kekkei genkai called the Explosion release. Trust me you don't want to end up on the other side of her fists."

Yuki watched as Getsumaru slipped out of the water and his skin looked rather slimy, "This is my jutsu my sensei taught me. Try and hit me now."

"With pleasure." Ignoring everything she learned she ran at Getsumaru and punched him, but when her fist connected with his stomach her fist slid off his body and the explosion didn't happen. Getsumaru grabbed her wrist and tossed her back to the water, he bit his thumb and began doing a few handsigns, "Summoning Jutsu!" Slamming the palm of his hand on the ground a cloud burst shot out from the ground and over the water. When the smoke died no one saw anything.

"Okay now I'll be on the attack!" He did more handsigns shouting, "Water Style!" He ran over to her and saw her drop into a battle stance, "Water Prison!" When he got close enough he aimed his palm just a foot away from her and just before she could attack water shot around her making a sphere.

Ao watched the fight saying, "He's using a variant of the suicide jutsu. Except the roles are reversed."

Kushina looked at Ao asking, "You mean like the Shark users?"

"Yes, I was told that Getsumaru uses this jutsu a lot. Matter of fact all of his missions resulted in the deaths of his enemies." Mei told her, "An archaic technique, but useful in the right mindset."

Yuki held her breath and thought, 'Dammit I was careless. What the? What's this-?' She was cut short in her thoughts when she felt something touching her arms. Looking around she saw little lizard like creatures.

"Those are my summoning partners. They're newts and these ones have a habit of creating slime from their skin which has a paralyzing affect once it touches skin and to much exposure to it is deadly. I have build up and immunity to the slime and therefore I am not affected." Yuki tried to swat at the newts to knock them away, but the things swam fast and avoided her hits. 'Crap my movements are already hammered because of the water, but now it's even worse. I can feel my body shutting down little by little.'

Getsumaru grinned saying, "Give up. No one has survived this move before." Yuki was about to lose consciousness and looked at her fists. These gauntlets were made by her clan since she hasn't fully controlled the Explosion release jutsus, they are designed to absorb the force of the explosions.

Yuki could feel her body weakening as it went on, but her will to show her clan that she belongs and that Iwa ninjas never give up. Balling both of her fists she connected the two hitting the knuckles and causing an explosion. The result was the water jutsu dissipating and both gennin being knocked clear across separate sides of the field. Getsumaru winced as he looked at his arm feeling a trembling sensation going up his arm.

Coughing up some water she took a few good breaths and thought, ' can't feel my left leg neither can I feel most of the right side of my body.' Standing up she looked over to Getsumaru and knew that his arm took some damage from her jutsu. The newts had disappeared when their bodies took to much damage from the explosions which meant one less thing to worry about. Yuki forced herself to stand and did a few handsigns, "Earth Style: Radiant Stalagmites!"

Spikes shot out of the ground over to Getsumaru, the Kiri nin was fast and avoided the jutsu and when he tried to form handsigns he couldn't since one of his hands were disabled making using jutsu useless. Yuki activated her jutsu again making more spikes come out of the ground surrounding him, "I have you now!"

Running and ready to attack and the moment she cocked her hand back to punch Getsumaru did something unexpected, "I surrender."

Immediately she stopped in her tracks and looked shocked. Getsumaru said, "Don't think you're smug. I can't use any jutsu and seeing as how you taijutsu to fight and combined with that weird ass explosions I'm not gonna risk dying."

"What! No I won't accept that! Fight me now!" Yuki shouted and was about to rush him again, but the proctor appeared before her saying, "Yuki-san stand down. The fight is over."

"But I didn't get the chance to show my real strength!"

The proctor glared at her saying, "Yuki-san that's enough!" She shut up and proctor raised her arm shouting, "The winner by forfeit is Yuki!" The Iwa ninjas and civilians applauded and cheered, but the Iwa kunoichi wasn't as happy as them. Getsumaru got out of the spike prison and was approached by a medic nin who was looking at his arm. "Yuki-san return to the Gennin's box." said the proctor.

Yuki nodded and walked over to the other gennin and when she was inside her teammate Hiroki asked, "Yo you okay?"

"No." was her reply and she sat down in one of the seats feeling depressed. Hiroki looked at Masashi, the two couldn't do anything and instead just remained silent.

Mei said to Ao, "That boy. He's not exactly like what we'd expect."

"I know. He hardly put in any effort in this fight." said Ao

Onoki looked over to Yuki's clan and saw displeased looks on their faces knowing that they were not impressed with her battle. Onoki felt another presence behind him and saw another one of his ninjas walking up to him, the ninja leaned down and whispered into his ear. Onoki's eyes widened and asked, "Where?" The ninja pointed to one of the entrances to the stadium seats and Onoki saw Han standing at the entrance both arms crossed over his chest, "How long has he been there?"

"Since the exams started Lord Tsuchikage."

"Keep an eye on him." Onoki ordered and his ninja disappeared. Kushina heard the talk the two had and briefly glanced in the direction the ninja had pointed and saw Han thinking, 'Why is Han here?'

Mei told Kushina, "Ku-chan I'd like to ask something of you." Kushina looked at the woman wondering what she could want, "I was wondering if I could talk to you more on the topic of your son."

Immediately both Kushina and Tsunade knew who she was talking about and Onoki overheard the conversation wondering what topic about the Yondaime's son could be about. Kushina looked at her hands that were in her lap saying, "I think I know what you want to ask me, but of course it'll have to wait until after the tournament."

"Of course Ku-chan." Mei and everyone else turned their attention to the arena below them. Tsunade looked at the back of Kushina's head knowing that she was plagued by this, so she reached out about to touch her shoulder, but stopped and again dropped her hand to her side and watched as the boy Getsumaru was walked off the arena ground and through some doors where Rock Lee was taken.

The proctor waited till his comrades took Getsumaru away to announce the next match ups, "Okay I'd like Sasuke Uchiha and Hiroki to come out!" At the name Uchiha many people remained quiet and watched as he was the first to walk out.

Before Hiroki could walk out Masashi grabbed his shoulder saying, "Hey. I know that you can be that usual carefree self, but you need to tread carefully in this fight Hiroki." Said ninja slapped Masashi's hand away lightly saying, "Look Masashi-san for a long time I've been in your shadow and all because you're from the Kamizuru clan. You might be the Shodaime Tsuchikage's great-grandson, but a name means nothing if you don't live up to it."

Yuki shouted at him, "Hiroki that's wrong and you know it!"

Masashi's face didn't change as he looked at Hiroki, "Fine then Hiroki-san. Do as you see fit." Hiroki snorted at him saying, "I was planning to." and walked off to meet Sasuke. Once the boy stepped out on the field the people of Iwa cheered for him hopping that he would be able to defeat the Uchiha. Hiroki put on a grin and stood a few feet away from Sasuke who looked uninterested in him. Both were even blocking out the proctor giving the warnings about stopping the fight.

"Hey Sasuke-kun." called Hiroki. Sasuke continued starring at him, but didn't speak, "You clan members think you're all high and mighty. Hiding behind a name, but like I've told the clan members I've beaten… A name means nothing unless you can live up to it." Sasuke still showed no emotion and calmly brought both fists up ready to strike. Hiroki brought his right hand to grab his scroll on his back and dropped his other hand close to the ground and was in a crouched position ready to fight.

"Fight!"

Hiroki dashed at Sasuke unravelling the scroll shouting, "Summoning Jutsu!" Sasuke activated his sharingan and saw a giant chakra form inside the cloud and out came a giant boar rushing at Sasuke.

Sasuke did some handsigns shouting, "Fire Style: Great Fireball!" Sasuke shot from his mouth a very large fireball that was twice the size of the boar, but the beast ran straight into the ball making it erupt kicking up smoke and dust. Sasuke jumped away and saw the boar still charging like nothing happened. Hiroki was watching as his giant boar tried to gore Sasuke with it's oversized tusks. Hiroki tossed his scroll off to the side and did some handsigns saying calmly, "Earth Style: Flying Rock Shards!" He stomped on the ground and pieces of sharp rocks shot out of the ground hovering next to him. He aimed his hand at Sasuke and the shards flew at him.

"Damn pig!" shouted Sasuke as he kept jumping over the massive boar trying not to get stabbed by the shards, he paused when he heard a whizzing sound and turned his head seeing rocks fly at him. Sasuke jumped off of the boar and into the air avoiding the rocks, but caught a glimpse of the rocks hitting the boar and watched them bounce off of it. Sasuke landed on the ground and looked at the boar who was again starring at him. Sasuke thought, 'Fire, Earth, they both don't work on him…'

Sasuke turned his head toward Hiroki and saw him doing some jutsu and using his sharingan he began to copy that jutsu. The sounds of heavy steps caught his attention once again and he saw the boar run toward him at full speed and Hiroki shoot more of those rocks at him. Sasuke reached into his ninja pouch and grabbed something and he ran toward the boar and leapt over it avoiding the rock attack from Hiroki. Sasuke began running so far what the guy has been doing, with your attention on the boar you ignore the fact that he can attack from afar. This monster can't be hurt by attacks it seems which is why he doesn't hesitate to shoot dangerous objects it's way. Sasuke held onto the hair of the boar as it kicked and bucked trying to knock Sasuke off.

'I know your game.' thought Sasuke, he let go of the boar and landed on the ground behind it. The boar spun around and tried to charge him, but Sasuke tossed some explosive tags in the air and immediately activated them. Explosions lit the field as Hiroki watched his boar and Sasuke become engulfed in the explosions. The proctor shielded his eyes trying to see where the Uchiha was.

Haru sat on edge wondering if her teammate was alright. Gaara watched the battle analyzing how the Uchiha fought so when they finally did he would know what to expect.

Hiroki waited wondering what happened to the Uchiha and when the smoke cleared he saw his boar laying on the ground unconscious, "What the?" shouted Hiroki. The ground shifted under him as saw a kunai shoot out of the ground piercing the scroll, Hiroki leapt away with no choice but to ditch his scroll. Looking at his boar he saw it erupt into a cloud of smoke. Hiroki can see that Sasuke's target was the scroll all along and that he was underground, 'I'll flush him out.' Making some handsigns he placed both hands on the ground shouting, "Earth Style: Vibration Destruction!" His hands began to tremble as the ground shook.

Onoki and everyone else could feel them as well. The old kage shook his head thinking, 'That jutsu is a high leveled one and he doesn't have the chakra necessary to use it correctly. I doubt he'll be able to stand after this.'

The ground began to crack as he continued his assault. The proctor grabbed onto a nearby boulder for support watching as he continued his assault on the ground, but he heard a faint sound despite the ground cracking and looked to his side and thought, 'I see now.'

Hiroki thought, 'Where is he! He shouldn't be able to stay underground this long especially from this jutsu!' Feeling his chakra slip away faster he stopped his attack and looked around wondering if Sasuke would climb out injured, or maybe he died. He relaxed his guard thinking he was safe… bad move. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his leg, looking down he saw three senbon needles sticking out of his leg and fell to one knee holding his leg in pain. Looking in the direction they were thrown from he saw Sasuke standing without a scratch on him which shocked him greatly, "H-How did you survive my jutsu?"

Sasuke told him, "I used a transparency jutsu. After destroying that boar scroll I climbed out of the ground and hid myself by the tree line and waited for an opening." Rushing forward Sasuke moved to quickly for the chakra drained ninja to react and Sasuke appeared before Hiroki and punched him with all his might right into his stomach saying to him, "Do I live up to my family name now?" Not expecting an answer Hiroki fell over blacking out. When the gennin hit the ground a cascade of boo's filled the arena as everyone wanted the Iwa nin to win. The proctor called the fight and some medics came to examine Hiroki and then carried him off.

The proctor called out shouting, "Next fight will begin soon!"

Sasuke calmly walked back to the others and immediately Ino shouted, "Sasuke-kun you were so cool! You didn't even take any damage from that fight." Sasuke told her, "So far. There are strong ninjas here who could injure me, but that one just let his pride of defeating clan members cloud his judgement. When I teamed up with him during the second phase he would continually voice his dislike for clan members."

Haru stood up and said, "Well next up is Shino-kun. He'll give us an awesome show!" Shino stood silently. A few moments went by and the proctor called out, "Next round will be between Shino Aburame and Masashi Kamizuru!" Both boys walked out toward the battlefield not even glancing at each other once. The crowd watched as one of the last Kamizuru clan members strolled out to the field, but none cheered.

Both of them stopped next to the giant pool facing each other. This was a battle of pride since the Aburame clan had fought the Kamizuru clan for years up until the Kamizuru clan began to fade away leaving very few members left in Iwa. Onoki looked down at the battlefield and wasn't sure how this would turn out since the Kamizuru clan have never really faired well against Konoha's bug users, but he read reports about Masashi and how he's improved faster than all the other gennins in his graduating class even above Yuki. Although from what he's been told about the Aburame is that he's no push over, 'Guess we'll see who is stronger.' thought Onoki.

"Okay are you two ready?" asked the proctor, but he was met with only a silent nod from both boys, "Alright… Begin!"

Unlike the previous fights where the two opponents were eager to start off with a bang, these both boys instead held their arms out and out came flying beetles from Shino's jacket sleeves and from Masashi's sleeve shot out two small summoning scrolls. As Shino's bugs flew toward Masashi the Iwa gennin jumped back and unraveled both scrolls by tossing them into the air and facing both palms at the two scrolls.

Shino watched as thousands of little puffs of smoke appeared and emerging from the smoke were hornets. Masashi held out his hands and Shino saw only a handful of these hornets fly his way, but upon closer inspection he saw that attached to their stingers were explosive tags. When the hornets got closer they blew up taking out large portions of Shino's insects. Masashi again made some simple hand motions and the hornets flew toward Shino their stingers at the ready.

Countering Shino did a few handsigns saying calmly, "Insect Jar Jutsu." His remaining insect swarm surrounded Shino and began to fly in a clockwork motion at high speeds, when the hornets got close to the sphere of insects they were ripped to pieces. Masashi quickly made some hand movements for his insects to back up and the moment they did Shino ran out from his insect defense.

Masashi thought, 'He's suicidal.' Sending a signal to his hornets they all stabbed Shino with their stingers, but instead of hearing screams from Shino he had instead turned into insects. Masashi's eyes widened as he thought, 'Insects?' Hearing footsteps behind him he was able to dodge a back hand to his face by ducking to the side. Shino sent more insects out from his sleeve trying to have them attack Masashi, but the Iwa gennin cleverly jumped into the water avoiding the insects. Shino said to himself, "Just like I wanted." He turned his attention to his beetles who began to overwhelm the hornets since without any kind of direction from their leader the hornets were being eaten alive by Shino's insects.

A hole opened up a few feet away from Shino and hornets erupted from the hole all of them flying high into the sky. Shino focused his eyes on those hornets and saw that they were all looking at him and saw them shooting their poisonous stingers from their abdomens. Shino summoned his bugs back to him using his Insect Jar Jutsu again his insects had successfully destroyed the stingers flying their way, Shino reached into his ninja pouch and pulled out eight shurikens and again ran out from his insect defense and tossed the shurikens at the bugs. When the shurikens hit the hornets however the bugs seemed to have some strange goo fly from their bodies falling onto some of Shino's insects.

Shino looked at his bugs and saw that this goo stuck many of them together making them fall to the ground, Shino recalled most of his insects back into his body and it was a good thing since his bugs let out a trembling sensation through his body. Shino ducked away from his position avoiding an explosion that made him hit the ground hard. Masashi crawled out of the hole he made for his insects and looked over and saw Shino on the ground and not wasting any time he ran at Shino while he was still on the ground and landed a perfect kick to Shino's stomach launching him into the air. Shino winced in pain, but inwardly was happy with the connection.

Masashi gripped his ankle and winced feeling something biting into him. Looking at his ankle he saw Shino's insects were biting into his skin no doubt draining him of chakra. He tried to swat the insects away, but the more he tried the more they dug their mandibles into him. Shino was trying to recover from that vicious kick, but when he moved he felt a few of his ribs crack which made him curse. Masashi called for his hornets and ordered them to eat the beetles to which they did as quickly as possible. After the bugs were removed he tried to stand, but fell on one knee when upon close inspection of his ankle it had suffered to many bites and a bit of his chakra was eaten away as well. He ordered his insects to attack Shino in a swarm.

Shino saw the hornets come his way and immediately told his insects to attack in a swarm as well. The crowd watched as a cloud of gold hornets collided with a cloud of black beetles and the constant buzzing sound could be heard. Onoki watched in amusement as the two insect users insects battled, this was a kind of unique battle that most found intriguing.

Shibi watched as Shino stood up and pointed one fingering in a direction and saw what his son had planned. Masashi limped his way to Shino and looked up in the sky seeing bugs fall to from the sky to the ground dead, looking at Shino he saw the Leaf ninja just fall back to his knees holding his side, 'Most likely I cracked a few of his ribs.' thought Masashi as he made his way toward Shino. When he got close enough Shino tossed a shuriken at Masashi, but the hornet user turned his body avoiding it.

Shino moved his middle finger just a bit making the shuriken fly back at the unaware Masashi and watched as the shuriken stabbed into his injured leg making Masashi growl in pain. Shino was surprised when Masashi didn't fall, but instead used the last of his strength to dash forward and punch Shino square in the jaw making him fall onto his back. The Iwa gennin followed up by standing over Shino and began to punch Shino in his face breaking his glasses in the process.

Before Shino blacked out he quickly grabbed Masashi's other leg and let his last remaining insects bite onto his leg again making Masashi fall to the ground. The proctor watched the battle and saw the Shino wasn't moving anymore and quickly called the fight, "The fight is over!"

The insects stopped and all of Shino's bugs flew toward him surrounding his body before going back into his body. Masashi held his right leg that was just attacked wincing in pain. The proctor looked to Onoki wondering what he should do. Onoki looked over both boys and gave the proctor and nodded at him, the man understood and shouted, "Masashi is the winner!"

A few ninjas were stunned at the decision and the medic ninjas ran to the field checking over both boys. One medic said, "The Aburame is fine, he's just unconscious."

The other medic said after, "Masashi-kun is okay, but with these kind of injuries I doubt that he can continue." Masashi shouted, "I can- Still fight!"

The proctor looked at Masashi and told the Medic, "Take him back to the gennins box, but don't make any attempt to heal him. If he says that he can go on then he's still a participant." The medic argued that it wasn't a wise choice since he had extensive damage done to the lower half of his legs and the boy would be luck to stand up. But the proctor made his decision and told them to escort him back and to take the Aburame to get fixed up. The medics did as they were told and took both boys to the ordered destination.

Onoki watched as Masashi was carried to the gennin's box and he heard his Iwa nin say, "Sir you shouldn't let Masashi-san continue."

"It's the boy's decision." said Onoki. Kushina, Mei, Tsunade, and Ao agreed the boy shouldn't be allowed to continue, but if the boy had a death wish than it was his decision.

Masashi was helped back to the other gennin and immediately sat down. The proctor went through the process of picking up Masashi's scrolls and resealed the insects that were just flying in the sky. He held onto the scroll to await the decision if he still had the will to go on. So far these fights have been interesting, so far a Suna nin, two Iwa nins, and a Leaf nin were advancing to the finals. Looking at the scroll with the next participants he was interested in how this match will play out.

Hinata said to Ino and Haru, "I can't imagine Shino-kun loosing the way he did." Haru and Ino agreed. Shino like Sasuke and Shikamaru was a level headed thinker who could plan out his next step ahead of his opponent. Haru started to fidget in her seat waiting for her turn desperately, but she was also shaking a little because she remembered the line up and who was next to fight and was desperately worried.

Neji was leaned up against the wall looking over at Hinata who was oblivious to his stare. He heard some footsteps walk toward him and looking at who it was he saw TenTen standing in front of him asking, "This isn't personal is it?" He looked away from his teammate and heard her speak again, "Hinata is a friend and she's your family and I'm hoping that you won't do something stupid. Remember what sensei said before the finals? That you leave everything personal out of this tournament and fight with honor."

He scoffed at her repeating their sensei's words and told her, "I'll fight how I want to fight. In fact I doubt she will fight me, so you have nothing to worry about." TenTen couldn't say anymore since Neji walked away from her, she shook her head wondering if he can keep a cool head like he says.

"Neji and Hinata Hyuuga please come forward!"

Hinata froze at her name being called and looked around seeing Neji walk out first, but he stopped momentarily to glare at her before continuing to the field. Haru and Ino both patted Hinata's back saying to her:

"Don't worry you'll do fine!" shouted Haru.

"Show Neji that you're a great kunoichi! Beat him into the ground!" Ino told her.

Hinata nodded and when she stood up Haru took Hinata's hand and guided it up to the sword strapped to her back, when Hinata's hand touched the sword that was on her back she remembered that she had brought Naruto's sword with her and knowing that she had that it gave her more confidence. Hinata looked at Haru mouthing the words 'thank you' to her. Taking a good breath she walked out to the field seeing Neji standing there with his eyes closed waiting patiently. As she walked to the field there weren't many cheers and as she searched the crowd she saw her father sitting with the other Leaf ninjas with both arms crossed looking at her. When she got to her spot the proctor went over the rules with both of them, but Hinata had heard them before and looked around the arena again and saw Kurenai smiling brightly at her and looking again she saw Kushina who was smiling at her giving her a thumbs up. More confidence flowed in Hinata who wanted to prove something to her two senseis who've taken the time to teach her.

Neji had opened his eyes and saw her looking else where smiling, a smile that had disappeared when Naruto had left the village. Neji's focus was on her and she didn't look afraid as she normally did which confused him, this couldn't be the same girl who needed protection at every turn, the one who would cry when she felt pressured. When the proctor stopped speaking he took a few steps back saying, "Alright… Begin!"

The two didn't rush at each other instead Neji said to her, "Give up."

Hinata's smile faded and she asked, "What?"

"I said give up. You can't win, so what's the point in trying to fight against the inevitable? Destiny has shown that I will be the victor in this fight."

Neji saw her look down at the ground and he continued to talk, "The Main family have become weak, depending on us the branch to protect them while they sit around and do nothing while we hone our skills becoming stronger." Neji crossed his arms, "And you aren't exactly the strongest in the Main house." Hinata didn't answer him and Neji could hear the crowd start to boo because of them not fighting yet. Suddenly it was as if all that confidence vanished into thin air.

Haru could hear Neji's harsh words and she couldn't take it no more, standing up she got as close to the edge before the two Iwa guards stopped her, "Hinata!"

Hinata and Neji looked to the source of the sound and saw Haru had two Iwa ninjas holding her shoulders, "Hinata don't let what he says get to you! You didn't train your ass off to get this far only to quit because of some destiny freak who thinks he has the right to speak down to you! If you forfeit this match then I've lost all respect for you!" Hinata was stunned at Haru's words and remained motionless and Haru shouted again, "Is this the kunoichi Naruto is going to see when he comes back! If so then he'll be disappointed greatly!"

Hinata looked down at her feet and brought her hand up to her chest.

In the stands Hana and a few others heard Haru's words and she said, "Haru-chan is being a bit rough."

Kurenai responded, "No Hinata needs this. If she's going to let the words of others bring her down like just now, then maybe being a ninja isn't the path for her." Kakashi was looking at Haru and even from as far as he was he could almost tell that Haru was shedding a few tears at her own words. Hiashi lowered his head and wondered what Hinata would do.

The proctor was impatient and asked, "Are you two gonna fight or is one going to forfeit because I will do something."

Neji smirked and said, "I'm ready to fight. As for her I'm not so sure."

"Hinata Hyuuga are you going to fight? If not then you are out." said the proctor.

Hinata remained still holding her chest holding the necklace that Naruto gave her, was this it? All that work she had put into fighting done just like that? 'NO!' Hinata shouted in her head. When she raised her head Neji saw tears flowing from her eyes and her eyes narrowed on him activating her byakugan and she dropped into an unfamiliar stance for a Hyuuga. Her feet weren't placed to far apart and both her hands were opened and not far apart from each other.

Haru, Kushina, and Kurenai smiled that she was still up to fight.

The proctor said, "Looks like she's ready. Fight now otherwise both of you are disqualified."

Neji activated his byakugan and dropped into the traditional Hyuuga stance. Hinata said to Neji, "I won't back down… Otherwise he won't forgive me if I do. Taking a step back now would mean I'd be doing it the rest of my life. No matter what you say to me now will just be empty words." Neji could see a light in her eyes, she was serious. Hinata offered him a smile saying, "If you choose to hate me Neji-nii then that's fine. I'll carry that burden."

Neji gritted his teeth and asked, "Why would you do that?"

"Because… That's who I am."

What surprised Neji and a majority of the people who knew her saw that she offered the first attack charging head first at Neji.

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* Akatsuki Hideout *

Kisame and Naruto stood in the dark room and looked around seeing the holograph images of the other Akatsuki ninjas. Hidan shouted, _"Oi what's this about?"_

Pain looked around at each Akatsuki ninja in their eyes and he finally let them fall on Naruto's blue orb. Deidara asked, _"Hey let's get this over with. Master Sasori and myself are here in this humid weather."_ Pain looked away from Naruto and said, _"One of our bases have been found. The one in Sunagakure the in the mountain range."_

Everyone looked shocked at this news. Sasori asked, _"How's that possible? All of our bases have numerous traps and barriers to protect such a thing from happening."_

_"How the fuck did this happen and who found it?"_ asked Hidan.

_"The base was easily figured out. The traps were disabled and everything inside was stolen."_ said Zetsu. Everyone looked at each other. Their bases normally have thousands of weapons, scrolls, and other gear, but on top of it all the once in particular that was broken into had numerous jutsu scrolls taken from other villages.

_"Was it Orochimaru!"_ shouted Deidara. Pain shook his head telling them, _"No."_

"Then who was it?" asked Kisame.

Pain closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again to say, _"It turns out that we have a traitor amongst us."_ Immediately all the Akatsuki ninja turned their eyes to Naruto who took notice to this. Hidan's body faced Naruto and shouted, _"I knew we couldn't trust him!"_ Naruto looked around at each of the holograms as they started to do a few handsigns, he saw this happen once. They were about to summon themselves to where their holograms were.

However they all stopped when Pain said calmly, _"It isn't Naruto."_

Naruto and everyone else looked at Pain wondering who it was then. Pain looked at each member saying, _"We're not sure. However this base is well hidden as the only ones in this group who don't know of this base are Naruto, Deidara, and Hidan. Which means the ones who could've done it are Kisame, Kakuzu, or Sasori."_

Kisame, Kakuzu, and Sasori didn't like the fact that they were targets of this. Naruto looked to Kakuzu who in turn looked at him. Right now being in Akatsuki was very dangerous in deed.

(End of Chapter)

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Okay I'm gonna come out and say that I really want the next few chapters to be over. It might be awhile for the next chapter since there are a many fight scenes I have to write out, so I'm working on them right now. I don't have much to say at this point other than 'Thank you for your patience!'


	29. Unexpected Victors

Chapter 29: Unexpected Victors

Hi and thank you all for waiting for this to be updated. I realize my updates have become less and less frequent and I apologize for that. I know that I said that this chapter and the last would be the end of the Chunnin Exams, but it isn't. Instead the next chapter will for sure be the end, but a portion of it will have Naruto in it as well. Thanks for waiting!

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* Iwagakure Stadium *

Everyone watched in amazement as the two Hyuuga clan members collided with one another. With every strike the two threw at each other wind seemed to pick up and every time they blocked the others attack a burst of wind shot out from them. Hinata was fairing better than the other gennins gave her credit for, even Neji was amazed at her ability. The veins appearing next to their eyes visible that they were using their bloodline. Hiashi watched in amusement at how quickly his daughter had progressed in such a short time under Kushina and Kurenai's teachings.

Haru and Ino were at the edge of their seats watching the battle. Hinata was blocking and parrying each of Neji's attacks and vice versa. Neji struck out at Hinata with an open palm thrust, but Hinata knocked his attack away and tried her own to Neji's solar plexus. Seeing the attack coming Neji leapt back a few feet avoiding the attack. Hinata calmly took a few slow breaths keeping herself in control, Neji was observing her closely with his eyes. How she acts now, what she does now… it's no where near what the original Hinata would do. The two stared each other down circling around barely taking steps waiting for the other to strike first.

The moment Hinata's feet touched the ground Neji dashed forward striking at Hinata, but she was quick and evaded his attacks. Their movements were quick and hard to see, but when you finally see one strike then you would have missed six more strikes. Hinata and Neji were standing toe to toe not backing down.

Kushina watched as the fight went on and was gnawing at her bottom lip, 'Hinata has the skill to win, but can her body take this much damage?'

Hinata sidestepped Neji's attack and did a few backflips to distance herself from Neji. Once she was sure that she was far enough from Neji to catch her breath she could see that he wasn't as tired as she was. Neji smiled and shouted, "Is this the best you have? All that training and you're still at this level? Disappointing." Ignoring Neji's harsh words Hinata wiped the sweat off of her forehead and she took off Naruto's sword in order to take off her jacket tossing it in some random direction, picking up the sword she strapped it back on and let it settle on her back without taking it from it's sheath. Hinata waited and saw Neji rush at her and the two yet again engaged into a back and forth conflict with neither wanting to back down.

Hiashi watched every movement knowing that Neji was doing this to prove that the Branch family is superior to the Main house a selfless act and Hinata was doing this to show that she is a valued kunoichi and to prove herself to a certain boy. Both of their prides were on the line and it would only be a matter of time before one of them falls from exhaustion. Hinata tried to strike Neji, but he cleverly slid his foot in-between her legs and tried to strike her stomach.

Hinata used her flexibility to her advantage and bent her body all the way back avoiding his strike. Hinata touched the ground with both hands and used balance to kick both her feet up almost hitting Neji who in turn jumped back avoiding her attack. Neji looked at her with wide eyes thinking, 'What was that?' She stood back up and glanced at Kurenai. The older kunoichi nodded at Hinata and the young Hyuuga nodded back facing Neji.

"Neji-nii. I don't have any grudge against you and I hope that someday you will hold no ill will against me." she said sincerely. Neji narrowed his eyes at her saying as calmly as he could, "How can you be so damn gullible?"

She smiled at him saying, "Naruto-kun believes that darkness clouds his heart and that he's to far gone to be saved… I know that it isn't true. I can save him… and you." Neji annoyed ran at Hinata roaring in anger, "I don't need to be saved!"

Hinata brought her hands together and did a few handsigns. Neji's stopped when Hinata's body melted into the ground making him bring both hands together shouting, "Kai!"

The genjutsu dispersed and he saw Hinata was right in front of him and she placed two perfectly aimed palm thrusts into his chest. Knocking him back, Hinata did more handsigns, Neji looked up and saw Hinata's body split up into flower petals. Getting up and wiping the blood off of his mouth he remained focused, he couldn't see her which meant that she was using a genjutsu that messes with his byakugan. He again brought his hand up to dispel the genjutsu, but he felt a pain course through his left leg. When he stood up he heard footsteps behind him followed by a strike to his left leg again.

Neji heard the footsteps coming again and this time he shouted in irritation, "I won't lose!" He began to spin in a high speed rotation shouting, "Heavenly Spin!" a dome of chakra surrounded him spinning at great speeds. Hinata was hit by the attack and the genjutsu was destroyed and Hinata flew across the stadium hitting the ground hard. Neji stopped rotating and took a few good breaths. He saw Hinata laying motionless on the floor next to the pool of water and he slowly limped over to her and stood directly over her deactivating his byakugan he looked down at her. Neji told her, "You can never defeat me. Just give up on ever changing because it won't happen." He brought his hand back and struck Hinata in her chest with enough force to crack the ground beneath her.

Everyone watched shocked and confused at what was taking part. Hiashi smiled thinking, 'Neji… you truly are strong. Hinata… I'm so proud of you.' Neji looked at the proctor wondering why he didn't stop the fight.

Guy and Kurenai looked at each other and Guy said in a nonchalant tone, "Well I guess it's over Kurenai." She smiled at him and said, "Better luck next time I guess."

Before Neji could react Hinata dashed out of the ground at high speeds and struck Neji with the tips of her index and middle finger right into Neji's neck paralyzing him. He looked at Hinata as she was looking at him with defiant eyes. Neji uttered the words, "H-How?"

"Back there…" she said in a soft tone. "When I cast the genjutsu on you the first strike was from my palm, but the second was a weapon I coated with a poison Kurenai-sensei gave to me. I coated the poison over Naruto-kun's sword."

Neji's knees failed him and he fell to the ground over what he thought was Hinata's body, but looking at it now he saw that it was a large hunk of wood. Neji frowned thinking, 'Substitution jutsu…'

Hinata let him fall continuing, "When you used that jutsu I used the substitution jutsu and it dispelled once it hit the ground. The poison in your body isn't life threatening, but activates when I cast a genjutsu."

Neji looked at her out of the corner of his eye asking, "When?"

Hinata replied, "Underground. Kurenai-sensei taught me to use my eyes as a genjutsu caster and to use my field of vision to my advantage. I focused the chakra outside of my body namely on the chakra infused poison in your body which affects the five senses sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. That's why you didn't feel a substance difference when you struck the wood."

Neji said, "The clan won't forgive this. Taijutsu is what our clan is based off of and using anything other than that is frowned upon." Hinata didn't answer him as her attention was to the proctor who had approached them. The proctor looked from Neji to Hinata asking, "What did you do?"

"I hit a pressure point in his neck that renders him paralyzed. He can't go on." she told him. The proctor looked at Neji who was looking at the ground, "Just call it." said Neji.

The proctor raised his hand in Hinata's direction shouting, "The winner! Hinata Hyuuga!"

The crowd cheered as they liked the battle that took place. Kushina let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Kurenai was proud that Hinata won although not just against anyone, but against the highly favored gennin from Konoha. Haru ran out to the field and took Hinata by surprise by hugging her from behind and lifting her into the air shouting, "You did it Hinata-chan! You did it!"

Hinata began to blush whispering, "H-Haru-chan this is embarrassing."

Neji watched the two girls and hung his head in shame, 'I couldn't win…' Haru set Hinata down and saw her walk over to Neji and kneel in front of him. Neji looked up at her and the two locked gazes at one another. Neji asked, "Coming to gloat?" What shocked him next was Hinata hugged him tight whispering, "Whether the elders look down on me for this or not is fine with me. I never felt at home there since mother's passing, but I looked up to you Neji-nii. Your father's death made you stronger, while I withered and cowered by the death of my mother. If it wasn't for Haru-chan I would never be where I am now. What I said earlier is true, if you continue to hate me that's fine, I'll carry that burden."

He was still shocked and asked through his gritted teeth, "Why would you? Why would you go that far for me?"

Hinata kissed her cousin on the cheek saying, "Because I love my family. Everyone of my family no matter what they think of me." She released him and saw the bewildered expression on his face. The medics came and gathered up Neji and took him to get checked up, Hiashi stood up from his seat catching the attention of Shibi, "Hiashi-sama, where are you headed of too?"

Hiashi turned away from him saying, "To ask forgiveness." and walked away. The proctor said to the two girls, "Hey clear the field."

They complied and ran off. Kushina watched the embracing moment between the two Hyuugas and couldn't help but look over her shoulder at Tsunade who was to busy looking at the field to notice. She looked away from her and thought silently, 'Guess I am acting like a brat.'

Onoki said, "Things are getting interesting. Look." Everyone in the Kage box looked where he was looking and saw a lot of people began to gather into the stadium. Onoki smiled saying, "Word spreads quickly of the matches so far."

"More and more people are gathering. This is good." said Mei. Onoki looked at the proctor and made a few handsigns. The proctor understood and shouted, "The next match will begin now! Ino Yamanaka vs Temari of Sunagakure!"

Ino was a bit nervous, but Haru urged her on, "Just give it all you have and win!"

"Shouldn't it have been 'Just give it all you got'?" asked Hinata. Ino said, "She's putting more pressure on me."

Temari strolled to the field shouting at Ino, "You better hurry up blondie!" Haru started to rub Ino's shoulders saying, "You'll do great. Just show her what you can do!" Ino took a deep breath and walked out to the field. The two blondes faced each other Ino looking at the older kunoichi who had a smirk of confidence. Temari placed her hand on the top of her fan waiting for the proctor to start while Ino stood her ground.

"Okay… Begin!"

Ino started off by taking some kunai from her ninja pouch and tossed them at Temari who effortlessly dodged the kunais. Ino ran at Temari doing a few handsigns, the Suna kunoichi grabbed her fan and swung it at Ino shouting, "Wind Style: Sickle Weasel!" Wind exploded from her fan hitting Ino, but her body disappeared and a wooden log was in her place. Temari stopped and waited for Ino's next strike.

Ino hid by the trees thinking, 'I can't just use my jutsu freely. There's always a chance that she can dodge it.' She reached in her ninja pouch and counted in her head, 'One, two- Let's see five regular kunai left and the two special ones. Now that I know she's a wind user I can try and use this to my advantage.' She stopped in her thoughts and lightly hit her head, 'Looks like Shikamaru is rubbing off on me.'

"If you won't come out!"

Ino's eyes widened at Temari's voice.

"Then I'll flush you out!" Temari swung her fan shouting, "Wind Style: Whip Chain Serpent!" Wind shot from her fan in a single stream, the wind hit the outlining trees and curved going along the trees gashing the wood. Temari watched the other side and saw Ino dash out from the trees avoiding her attack. Ino saw Temari was about mid swing and immediately thought, 'Shit!'

"Wind Style: Sickle Weasel!" Temari shot the wind attack at Ino watching as the wind knocked her off her feet and cutting her up. Ino hit the ground and was writing in pain.

Temari smirked and shouted at her, "Give up yet?"

Ino rolled onto her stomach and forced herself to at least get on her knees, 'Come on Ino! You can do better than this!' she thought to herself. Looking at Temari, she pulled out two kunais that had a small ball dangling from the holes of them by a string. Ino thought to herself, 'It's now or never!' She tossed the two kunais at Temari.

Temari rose her fan and was about to swing at the two kunais and when Ino saw this she smiled, "Yes she fell for it!" When the kunais got closer and Temari swung her fan to use her wind to defend her, Ino brought her hands together activating the technique. The two attachments exploded and Temari used her wind jutsu to swirl her wind around her to stop the explosion. Inoichi watched from his seat and looked at the smoke which should be black, but was instead a darker green color.

Inoichi smiled and thought, 'So you're going with your mother's jutsu?'

Temari flew out of the smoke and was riding on her fan in the air, she grabbed the end of it and flipped in the air shooting scythes of wind. Ino forced herself to stand and dodge to the side avoiding the attack, Temari landed gracefully on the ground. Ino was on one knee and pulled out a few shurikens and tossed them at Temari, but like before she used her fan and shot a wind tunnel at Ino and the shurikens caught in the attack shot back at Ino. Luckily only two of shurikens grazed her.

Temari strolled over to Ino, but made sure not to let her guard down around her. Ino was now on both knees breathing heavily and she looked up seeing Temari standing a safe distance away. "Looks like I win." said Temari.

Ino smiled and asked, "You sure about that?"

"I do. Look just give up you can't-" Temari stopped mid sentence when she suddenly felt weaker. Ino acted quick and punched Temari in the face and kicked her fan off into the other direction, Temari skidded across the ground and tried to sit up. Ino was breathing a bit heavy and she needed to end this, she did her clan's signature jutsu, connecting her thumbs together and her index fingers together and her middle fingers making an 'o' she aimed at Temari and then suddenly her body went limp and Temari was frozen.

The proctor walked over to Ino and was about to check if she was okay, but he saw Temari sit up saying, "I Temari wish to forfeit."

"You sure?" he asked.

"Hai." At that moment Temari seemed to wake up since her eyes widened and she started to rub her eyes. Ino got up slowly and they both see the proctor raise his hand to Ino shouting, "The winner! Ino Yamanaka!" Temari watched stunned and was in a state of disbelief. Ino rose her arm in triumph and looked to her father who was smiling brightly at her which made her blush.

Asuma lit a cigarette and looked over to Inoichi saying, "That's some kid you have there."

Inoichi let a small chuckle out and replied, "Well she has an amazing sensei." Both men sat and watched as Haru ran to help Ino back to the gennin's box. Haru set Ino down rather roughly which made her shout at Haru.

Temari couldn't stand still feeling weak, she glanced over at Gaara who in turn looked away from her. Some medics came by and took Temari away to get her fixed up. Gaara didn't think that his sister could be beaten that easily, glancing over to Haru he was more interested in seeing how much stronger she has gotten over the month of training.

Haru shouted out, "That's already three of us making it to the next round! I'm gonna win for sure!" TenTen was listening and told her, "From what I remember on the lineup I should be next." and sure enough TenTen was correct.

"Yu Terumi and TenTen Shinoda come to the battlefield!"

TenTen smiled and walked out to the field with the Kiri ninja following behind her. Yu looked up at the Kage's box and saw Mei looking down at her giving her a confident smile, which boosted the young girl's confidence. Kushina asked Mei, "Terumi? She's related to you?"

"She is one of my cousins. During the Yondaime Mizukage's rein my family had spilt up around the islands of Water country. When I was elected as the next Mizukage my family came out of hiding returning to Kirigakure." said Mei looking down at the girl.

Yu was smiling and she approached TenTen holding her hand out, "Good luck TenTen-san." TenTen shook her hand and replied, "Good luck to you as well." After shaking the other's hand they backed away from each other. The proctor waited till both kunoichis were ready, he saw TenTen place her hand on one of the scrolls attached to her pants and glancing over to Yu he saw that she pulled out a kunai waiting patiently.

"Okay you two… Begin!"

TenTen pulled out one of he scrolls and unraveled it revealing many different seals in sections. TenTen swung the scroll in front of her and placed her palm on the back of the open scroll behind one of the seals. Yu saw a burst of smoke and it was followed by nine kunais coming out all with a chain connecting them together making a chain linked net. Yu ducked to the side avoiding the net just in time, but TenTen unsealed another weapon which was a demon wind shuriken.

Yu tossed her kunai into the air and did a few handsigns. The shuriken hit Yu, but her body turned to water instead. TenTen expected this and unsealed a sickle from her scroll, a sound caught her attention as she saw a small whip made of water shoot out of the pool and hook into the kunai that was tossed in the air and tossed it at TenTen.

Knocking the weapon away with her sickle she realized that it was a distraction when senbon needles shot out of the water at amazing speeds at her, but being trained in a wide range of different weapons. Unsealing another from the scroll it was a shield that she quickly held in front of her blocking all the needles. TenTen grabbed the rim of her circular shield and tossed it into the pool like a disc.

"Now's a good time." TenTen brought both hands together and an explosion was let out under the water. TenTen wasn't so sure it was over yet, she saw water build up and it took the shape of a human and then took Yu's form. It rushed at TenTen holding two kunais, TenTen held out her scythe and tossed it at the water clone although it knocked it away easily. TenTen took out some kunais in her ninja pouch thinking, 'I have to save the weapons in the scroll for later.'

She ran at the clone and locked into a brief battle, TenTen leg swiped the clone and tossed the kunai at it hitting it in the chest and making it turn back into water. The real Yu jumped out of the water and ran at TenTen while she was distracted and was able to successfully grab onto her shirt and toss her at the water, the leaf gennin flipped in the air and sent chakra to her feet to let her walk on water and immediately tried to get off the water surface as quickly as possible.

Yu put both her hands together doing a few handsigns and shouted, "Hidden Mist Jutsu!" the water under TenTen's feet began to leak out letting a thick mist take over. TenTen saw the mist rise quicker than when Yu's teammate had tried this, now she really needed to get out of there since she was caught in a mist and on her enemy's natural element. She ran trying to get out, but the sound of footsteps on water caught her attention and she jumped back avoiding supposedly a kick.

"You're pretty sharp to have avoiding that." It was Yu's voice just echoed. TenTen grinned replying, "My sensei's training is paying off."

TenTen then frowned thinking, 'If I don't get out of here I lose.' She touched the other scroll on her leg and immediately retracted her hand, 'No, I have no idea where she is.' Feint sounds of footsteps surrounded her and she wasn't sure where Yu would strike from next. TenTen thought back to her scroll she had to leave behind, there were some explosives she could use, but getting to it was difficult. She reached in her pouch and she counted the paper tags she had left, 'Not enough to ensure that I get out of here.'

The footsteps started again and TenTen was punched in her stomach and followed by getting punched in her jaw making her fall back. TenTen wiped some of the blood dripping from her mouth and heard the footsteps again and was able to block a kick to her head, but the kick was followed up by a trip from behind.

Everyone was wondering what was happening in the mist that covered most of the field. The proctor was standing outside of it forced to since going in was not a good thing to do, he could hear the grunts from TenTen and judging by the sounds she was taking a beating.

Yu kicked TenTen in the stomach making her skid across the water. TenTen let herself fall underwater and began to think, 'Damn this is bad. Looks like I have no choice.' TenTen took out the explosive tags, she tied them to her remaining kunais. Swimming quickly to the surface she was immediately grabbed by her collar and tossed back over water, 'She's making sure that I stay in the center of the pool.'

TenTen said, "It's now or never!" and tossed four kunais in a random direction and setting them off clearing a large portion of the mist away. Yu covered her face with her arm from the blast of the explosion moving her arm she saw TenTen run to the ground, 'She got away.' TenTen looked around and saw her scroll right where she left it and picked it up and jumped in the air twirling it around her body and unsealed each weapon one by one tossing them into the mist. Yu ran out of the mist since most of it was disappearing now and she was hidden in the mist that was left it was easier for TenTen to just toss them in the mist added that she wouldn't see them coming. Jumping out of the mist she saw TenTen lock eyes on her and begin throwing the weapons in her direction.

Yu pulled out another kunai and tried to knock as many weapons thrown at her, but a few would get through and graze her. TenTen saw that she only had two weapons left and unsealed the last two holding both in each hand two demon wind shurikens. She landed on the ground and tossed both at Yu.

Looking ahead Yu saw two demon shurikens coming her way and jumped into the air avoiding both weapons, but she saw a grin on TenTen's face and trusting her instincts she turned around and looked behind seeing the two shurikens change direction and come back at her. TenTen thought to herself, 'She can't dodge while she's in the air.'

Yu dropped her kunai and thought, 'I have no choice.' She quickly did some handsigns and brought her hands together and took a deep breath, 'Boil Style: Skilled Mist!' Yu exhaled shooting a a cloud of white mist at the weapons. Mei was beginning to wonder if Yu would ever use that jutsu.

When the mist hit the two shurikens they immediately seemed to loose rotation and their trajectory changed. TenTen's eyes widened saying, "What? My chakra string is gone?" Yu reached out and grabbed one of the shurikens before it was out of reach and spun in the air tossing it at TenTen.

TenTen wasn't deterred and easily sidestepped her weapon listening as it hit the ground behind her. Yu landed on the ground and thought, 'I need to end this now otherwise I won't have enough chakra for the next round.'

Taking out her other scroll TenTen needed to end this as well. Before she could unravel it Yu did a few more handsigns and took another breath. TenTen unraveled the scroll jumping into the air and like before she began tossing all her weapons at Yu. Right before any of the weapons she thrown reached Yu however the Kiri ninja thought, 'Lava Style: Eruption Cannon!'

Yu shot from her mouth two giant balls of magma at TenTen, they hit the weapons melting them and still flying without stopping. TenTen was shocked as she saw two bright balls of magma flying her way, she summoned out a chain and tossed it to a boulder and pulled herself out of the way watching the two attacks hit her scrolls burning them up instantly. TenTen landed on the ground and watched as the two magma balls as gravity took over and it hit the ground burning the ground under it, she was too preoccupied with the two magma attacks, that she didn't see Yu appear to her side.

Yu had grabbed TenTen's chain and wrapped it around her neck and pulled back choking her, TenTen fell to her knees holding the chain and tried to get out, but Yu put her foot right in the center of TenTen's back. Yu kept pushing down with her foot and pulled up on the chain choking TenTen more. She tried to fight the coming darkness, she knew she was blacking out, but she didn't want to lose… 'Not yet.' thought TenTen, she tried her best to pull on the chain enough for her to breath and it surprised Yu with the strength she still had left.

Guy watched from the stands his hands shaking as he thought, 'TenTen there is no shame in loosing. Don't push yourself.'

'She won't give up?' thought Yu who immediately frowned and wrapped the chains more around her hands tightening her grip and in one final pull the chain wrapped tighter around TenTen's throat and she could hear a gurgling sound coming from her and finally the moment she felt TenTen go limp Yu let go and stepped back in case it was a trap. The proctor ran over to TenTen and checked her vitals and found a pulse, "She's alive, just unconscious." He stood up and shouted, "The winner! Yu Terumi!"

Yu rose her hands in victory and looked to Mei who was still smiling at her, 'I did it Mei-sama!' Yu thought. Yu saw the medics walk over and place the unconscious TenTen on a stretcher and take her away and she could see the chain marks on the kenjutsu user's neck. The proctor told Yu to leave the field which she did, but she would spare glances at the backs of the medics taking TenTen away. When she joined the other gennins she looked over at the three leaf kunoichis and saw the saddened look on their faces.

Chojuro walked over to Yu saying, "Congratulations Yu-chan on proceeding to the next round." Yu placed a hand on his shoulder telling him, "It's your turn. Give it your best Chojuro-kun." The boy blushed and started rubbing the back of his head nervously. Haru jumped up from her seat and said, "Looks like it's finally my turn!" Haru was now excited that it was finally her turn. Hinata and Haru were telling her to be careful and not to let her guard down and Haru kept replying 'I know'. Sasuke was looking at the excited expression on her face not understanding where she gets it from.

'Idiot… She's excited because it's one more step closer to him.' Sasuke thought to himself. Haru stretched her body out and when she heard the proctor call out her name and Chojuro she was so excited that she ran out to the field and saw the nervous Kiri ninja dragging his heals. The people of Iwa were watching intently since it was a Namikaze that would be fighting now, the daughter of the man who was given a 'Flee on Sight' order by Onoki.

Onoki was also very interested in this fight to see how much power the Hokage's daughter has. Kushina was sitting on the edge of her seat and was gnawing at her bottom lip again nervousness taking over her, Tsunade could see that she was very worried about her daughter and placed a hand on Kushina's shoulder. Kushina looked at Tsunade and heard her say, "She'll do fine. She is your child after all."

Kushina nodded and replied kindly for the first time Tsunade returned, "Arigatou Tsunade."

Arashi was watching patiently in the crowd eager to see his little sister battle, he glanced over to Kakashi and saw that he was looking back at him. Kakashi smiled under his mask at Arashi and gave him a thumbs up to which Arashi smiled back and nodded and both turned back to the battlefield. The proctor looked at both kids saying, "You both ready?"

Haru shouted, "Yes!"

Chojuro weakly said, "H-Hai."

"Okay then. Begin!"

Haru started off strong and tried to punch Chojuro, but the boy looked sharper than initially thought as he blocked and evaded Haru's punches and kicks. Haru planted both hands on the ground kicked her right foot out at Chojuro who caught it, but Haru shot her left foot up and kicked him in the gut making him stumble back. Haru showed her balance when she was now on one hand with her body level with the ground.

Chojuro looked at her and thought, 'Her moves are unpredictable. What should I do?' Haru didn't waste anytime and touched the ground running at Chojuro, the boy tried his best to avoid the punches and kicks coming from different angles. The boy was on the defense not really fighting someone who could fight like her, Haru was striking from all angles using her punches and kicks both high and low. He couldn't really predict her next movement as easily like his previous opponents. Haru kept moving not giving Chojuro a chance to strike back and kept up her plan.

The Kiri gennin was able to block a punch and used this advantage to distance himself from Haru. He was about to use a water jutsu, but when he was about to he saw that they were very far from the pool of water, 'She led me away from the water?'

Haru brought her hands together shouting, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Chojuro saw smoke appear behind her and he saw nine clones appear. She pointed to the pool and four of the clones ran to the water keeping their distance as not to get to close to it while the other five backed up Haru. Chojuro grabbed his double handled sword and readied for another oncoming attack. The clones pulled out kunais while Haru pulled out a scroll and unraveled it revealing a sickle attached to a chain and a weight on the other end. The clones attacked first swinging at Chojuro, but the boy was ready this time and to show his skill he swung downward on two clones that both blocked with the kunai. Chojuro put more pressure down on them making the ground give way and both clones saw the kunais break shocking both of them and destroying both of them when the sword hit them both.

Haru was amazed at Chojuro's power and she rubbed her right arm thinking, 'This is the force that the clones felt? I can't be caught on the other side of that sword.' Looking at him closer she saw the determined look in his eyes, completely different from before. Chojuro charged at another clone ready to swing and the clone kept avoiding the heavy and slow movements of the bigger weapon.

While he was busy Haru instructed the other clone to help fight while she watched him and tried to construct a plan. The two clones kept trying to get closer to attack him, but despite the large size of the sword he could swing it faster than they anticipated. Chojuro swung his sword in a big horizontal swing trying to hit the clones, but one jumped over it while the other dropped down onto it's stomach missing both. The sword hit the ground and Chojuro took a good inhale. One clone saw this as an opportunity and attacked.

Chojuro forced the sword deeper into the ground and lifted his body up and kicked out hitting the clone in the face making it disappear. He quickly lifted the sword up doing a vertical swing to hit the other clone. It waited patiently to time this just right, but what it saw next was the bandages that wrapped up the sword unraveled revealing a pitch black blade. Chojuro charged chakra into his blade and a giant hammer made of chakra formed around the sword. The clone was surprised and tried to get away, but when it hit the ground the force of it was enough to destroy the clone.

Chojuro took a deep breath and he could hear a whipping sound and he jumped in the air avoiding the sickle tossed at him. While in the air Haru tossed the weighted side of the chain at Chojuro watching as it wrapped around his foot and she pulled down with enough force to make the gennin crash to the ground. Haru used her foot to wrap the chain around her ankle and kick making the sickle come toward her, she caught it in her left hand and unraveled her foot and whipped the sickle where Chojuro was sent. Delirious the gennin pulled out a kunai and knocked the sickle away and was then dragged away by the chain. Haru pulled Chojuro toward her and she hit him in the face with a perfectly timed punch in his face sending him flying back again.

Chojuro swung at the chain breaking it off from his ankle and freeing himself allowing him to rotate and land on his feet.

Kushina watched as her daughter has taken a new approach to fighting instead of blindly running in and endangering herself. She looked over to the audience and was looking at Kakashi wondering what he could've taught her.

'She's strong… I'd expect nothing less from the Hokage's daughter.' thought Chojuro.

Haru kept hold of the sickle and tossed it at Chojuro and quickly did some handsigns shouting, "Sickle Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The sickle flew at Chojuro and it multiplied to about twenty flying at him now. He quickly stabbed his sword in the ground and hid behind it hearing the numerous weapons bounce off the sword. He could hear footsteps coming his way and he grabbed hold of his sword and jumped back seeing Haru tossing six shurikens his way and realized what she was about to do.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The shurikens multiplied into a high number of them flying at him quickly. Chojuro charged his sword again and the hammer chakra surrounded it and he slammed his sword down in front of him using the force of his attack to knock away a large number of the shurikens. The resulting attack created a kind of tremor that made Haru loose her balance, she didn't have time to react when Chojuro dashed out of the smoke swinging his sword again. Haru was then hit full force by the hammer knocking her clear across the arena and making her crash into the stadium wall.

Kushina, Kakashi, Arashi, Hana, Hinata, Ino, and Sasuke were instantly out of their seats after witnessing Haru getting hit. The proctor was about to call it, but decided to give the little Namikaze the benefit of the doubt wondering to himself if she could even stand after getting hit by something like that. Chojuro held onto his sword ready for anything that could happen to him. The faint sounds of footsteps came from the hole and then he saw Haru step out a bit beat up, but she didn't look like she was worn out.

Haru looked at Chojuro and smiled shouting, "This is actually fun!" She pulled out a black scroll from her ninja pouch and unraveled it, biting her thumb till blood drew she spread it over the seal. Chojuro wasn't going to let her finish and dashed at her summoning out his hammer once again and tried to hit Haru, but she finished unsealing her weapon and blocked. When the two weapons collided dust kicked up blocking everyone's vision. Everyone waited to see what happened between the two gennins and they finally did when the dust cleared.

Both the Mizukage, Ao, and Chojuro were amazed when they saw that Haru had successfully blocked the attack… with the Kubikiribōchō, Zabuza's sword. Haru had done a upswing motion and had blocked the attack that way by using chakra flow to stop the attack. Haru looked at Chojuro's face and saw that he was worn out, wielding a heavy weapon like the one he is using and all that chakra he was expelling out of his body was taking it's toll on him.

Haru planned on ending this now, using a bit of force she pushed him back. Chojuro was ready to swing again, but he suddenly felt something grab both his wrists, his legs, and someone wrap their arm around his neck stopping him. Turning his head just a bit he saw that Haru's clones were holding onto him preventing him from moving. His attention was brought to the real Haru who swung her giant sword at his knocking it out of his grip. Using momentum from the sword she spun her body around and kicked up hitting Chojuro in his jaw sending him flying into the air shouting, "This is it!"

Guy was amazed at first and looked to Kakashi thinking, 'Teaching her that move huh?'

When Chojuro flew into the air, each clone leapt up each one kicking him in his back sending him higher into the air with each clone saying, "Na-Mi-Ka-Ze!" When he was high up into the air Haru leapt up into the air shooting chakra out of the bottom of her feet and was now above the Kiri nin and she did a powerful ax kick straight down on Chojuro's head sending him spiraling straight into the ground and shouted, "Barrage!"

She and the rest of the clones landed safely to the ground looking at Chojuro who was knocked out on the ground. The proctor walked over to check the boy's vitals and when he found that he was still alive he called the fight, "Winner! Haru Namikaze!" The crowd barely applauded the kunoichi, but she paid no hied

Ao sighed and said, "Mizukage-sama what do we do now?"

Mei watched Haru as she picked up the huge sword and walked to the gennins box and the medics took Chojuro away, "First Ao, go retrieve the Hiramekarei. As for the Kubikiribōchō…." She was really unsure what to do, the sword is property of Kiri, but Haru was able to somehow retrieve the sword from Zabuza. More curious as to how she got the sword from the Demon of the Mist.

"Don't worry Mizukage-sama."

Mei looked to Kushina who was still watching her daughter walk away, "If you want the sword back. I'll get it."

"Arigatou Ku-chan."

Onoki made a chuckle that caught everyone's attention, "That's some kid you've got there Kushina-san." She thanked the old man with a polite bow, "Arigatou Tsuchikage-sama."

Haru joined her friends and she stabbed the Kubikiribōchō in the ground and was smiling brightly, "Guess I'll be heading into the next rounds!" Hinata and Ino congratulated her and the blonde haired kunoichi smugly said to Sasuke, "Now do you see my real talent now?"

Sasuke gave her a humph replying back, "That was luck. I'll be the one to win this thing."

Haru gritted her teeth whispering, "Teme!" What she didn't notice was that Gaara's eyes were implanted on her. Her skills seemed to of improved since he had to team up with her, he just couldn't wait until he fought her. The gennins perked up when the proctor walked into the same room saying, "The next rounds are about to begin. This means that this time it'll be Gaara vs Yuki, Sasuke vs Masashi, Hinata vs Ino, and finally Yu vs Haru. Remember your order and be ready."

The remaining gennin nodded and waited their turn. The proctor said, "Gaara and Yuki, follow me." Gaara walked out with Yuki to the field. The proctor shouted out, "The next rounds will begin now! The matchup is Gaara of Suna vs Yuki of Iwa!" The Iwa residence began to applaud louder for the kunoichi hoping that she'd win this round. Haru and the others watched from the box wondering how this match would turn out.

"You two ready?" He asked the two gennins, and received a nod from both of them, "Alright. Begin!"

Yuki started off first and struck out at Gaara, but didn't use her Explosion Release yet. Gaara's sand came up blocking the attacks making Yuki think, 'That Lee guy was able to get past the sand through sheer speed. Maybe there is an opening in the sand.' Gaara stood still with his hands crossed watching her attack. This attack continued for awhile before Gaara held his hand out and the sand attacked her, but she evaded it and would hit the sand knocking it away. She reached into her ninja pouch and took out ten explosive tags and put five on each of her gauntlets.

Gaara kept using his sand to make sure that the girl was distanced from himself. Yuki used her quick movements to avoid getting grabbed by the sand looking for the right moment to rush in. Gaara turned his sand into a whip and tried to grab her foot, but she quickly ducked under it and took out some smoke bombs tossing down the line to Gaara. Despite the smoke Gaara raised his sand and began attacking in every direction in the smoke. What he didn't expect was Yuki had leapt into the air and punched down at Gaara, the last minute Gaara seen her and used the sand on his body to create a shield that was very thick. When her fist hit the sand shield the tags on her right hand lit up and was followed by a huge explosion that rocked the stadium.

Everyone was wondering what happened and they saw Yuki jump out of the black smoke that kicked up from the explosion. She waited patiently thinking, 'I can no longer use my right gauntlet.' Looking at her right arm it was a bit burned and the gauntlet was destroyed, 'I have one more shot with my left arm. I wonder if he survived?'

The smoke cleared and she saw Gaara standing with both arms still out and his sand shield was still in place, but a chunk of it was gone. Gaara returned all of his sand to him and placed the layer of sand back on his body and the remaining sand on the ground and his gourd surrounded him as he prepared. Yuki sneered, 'Damn, not even a scratch on him.'

She took out ten kunai that had paper bombs on them and tossed them into the air and then she brought her hands together and did some handsigns shouting out, "Ninjutsu Style: Hailing Explosions!" Aiming her hand at the ten kunais that now froze in the air she directed her hand to Gaara and the kunais flew toward him. Gaara's sand came up to protect him and the kunais got stuck in his sand and she began activating each explosion one by one. She took this moment and ran around Gaara while he was distracted with the explosions and thought to herself, 'His sand is to spread to thin and is being chipped away. He won't defend against this!'

Pulling back her left fist she punched out at Gaara, but he stopped what he was doing and touched his gourd and it turned into a sand clone of himself. The clone caught her punch and grabbed her right shoulder and more sand slowly crept onto her body, Yuki was shocked and watched as the tags lit up and as Gaara surrounded the few explosive kunais that hadn't gone off yet around her. With nothing to do the tags on her gauntlet went off and Gaara separated himself from his gourd. The explosions went off around Yuki engulfing her and Gaara watched from a safe distance. When the explosions finally died down and the smoke disappeared Gaara saw that she was face down on the ground the proctor ran over to check her vitals seeing that she unconscious, but alive. He rose his arm to Gaara shouting, "The Winner is Gaara!"

Gaara was greeted with boo's and other kinds of chants against him. Gaara ignored them all and held his arm out for his sand to encircle his arm and return to it's form as a gourd. He quietly strolled back to the others annoyed that his only exciting fight was in the first round hoping that his last two fights won't be the same. When he got into the gennin's box he leaned against the wall irritated.

The medics picked up Yuki and told the proctor, "The seals on the gauntlets absorbed most of the explosive force, but not all of it. She'll be out for awhile." He nodded and let them walk off with her. The proctor thought to himself, 'It was still too soon to have them compete. Not enough training time.' He shook it off and called the next fight, "Sasuke Uchiha and Masashi Kamizuru!"

Masashi stood up and limped onto the battlefield ignoring the pain in his leg. Sasuke watched him go and he didn't like that he would be getting an opponent who was injured to this degree. He slowly followed the Iwa gennin and saw that he was still trying to catch his breath. The proctor handed Masashi his scrolls back and asked both boys were ready and when they both nodded he started the fight.

Masashi looked at the Uchiha and saw that he wanted to ask him something but it was like something was holding him back from doing so, so he asked Sasuke, "You look like you have something to say. Why don't you just go on and say it?"

Sasuke put both his hands in his pocket and said, "I wanted to say that you should give up. You're too injured to go on and even if you do defeat me in this round the chances of you winning in the next is highly unlikely from the injuries you'll receive." Masashi narrowed his eyes at the Uchiha, "However…" That word made Masashi raise a brow at him, "I can see that you won't, your comrades all fought with everything they had. There is obviously a reason why you three would go so far as to continue like this. I won't ask you to give up, I won't hold back, but I will ask what's the reason why you won't concede defeat?"

They could hear the boo's from the audience shouting for them to fight, but they ignored them. Masashi made a replied, "Keh', like it matters. I can't quit because of my village. Our people are suffering, many of us are poor, and the man who led us to this sits high atop the stadium watching us. He led us to ruin and we the ninjas have to scrape by on the bare minimums to get our village back on it's feet. Many of the gennin from the academy are still inexperienced. As you know money is everything, you need it to put ninjas through training, you need it to get weapons for them, you need it for a lot of things." Masashi paused and looked at the Tsuchikage continuing, "That's why I can't lose yet, If I impress the Daimyos here than that means higher missions for our ninjas and more money to go into circulation for all our other gennins and trainees."

He looked back to Sasuke, "That's why there are so few Iwa gennins this year and why so few of us made it this far… Me and my team just got out of the academy a few weeks before the finals."

Sasuke's eyes widened to that news, "What?"

"You heard me. The Tsuchikage knows this, but he hopes that Yuki and I would get far enough to showcase our talent in hopes of getting the daimyo's attention. I don't need pity Uchiha, so fight me like you would anyone else." Masashi dropped into a fighting stance wincing when he put to much pressure on his hurt leg. Sasuke commended him on his drive, but he was right. If he was to continue on then he'd need to treat him like he would any other enemy. Sasuke activated his sharingan and dropped into a fighting stance as well.

Masashi unraveled his scrolls again and unsealed his insect hornets flew around him, he had done research on the Uchihas and found that their specialty were fire type jutsu and genjutsus. However based on the last fight he saw he didn't see Sasuke use genjutsu, he needed to be careful when sending his insects out. He had a few of them fly up his sleeves and remain there.

Sasuke went on the attack picking up shurikens that laid on the floor from the previous fight and tossed six of them at the hornets hitting six of them with his aim. Masashi aimed his hands at Sasuke, the hornets aimed their stingers at Sasuke shooting them at him. Sasuke did some handsigns shouting, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" He shot out a basketball sized fireball aimed at the hornets shooting their stingers, the fireball engulfed the stingers and the insects incinerating them.

A buzzing sound made Sasuke jump away from the spot he was in and he narrowly avoided some hornets that came up behind him trying to sting him. Sasuke was on the defense avoiding the bugs, he needed to get closer highly doubting that Masashi was in any condition to fight hand-to-hand. Sasuke blew out a few more fireballs eliminating the hornets, using his sharingan he saw an opening running through the insects he got close to Masashi and kicked him in the face making him fall back.

Masashi wasn't expecting that, he got up and ran at Sasuke punching out at him. Sasuke brought his hand up to block it, Masashi had a hornet come out of his sleeve at the right moment to land on his fist. When Masashi's fist collided with Sasuke's left palm the hornet was smashed unleashing the same goo as before sticking Masashi's right fist to Sasuke's left palm. He pulled his right arm back making Sasuke come forward and he promptly punched with his other hand hitting Sasuke in his nose drawing blood.

The people of Iwa cheered as Masashi was doing very well so far. Sasuke saw that Masashi was about to punch him again, he brought his hand up to block and when he did another wasp came up to Masashi's left fist and the same thing happened like before. Now their hands were stuck together, Masashi smiled saying, "My hornets will handle the rest.

Sasuke heard a buzzing sound coming behind him and saw the hornet shoot their stingers out hitting him in his back. Sasuke let out a quick grunt from the pain the poison circulating through his system. Masashi spoke to Sasuke saying, "This isn't a venomous poison, but a paralysis one. You'll loose feeling in your body first before your muscles contract before you go limp, then finally pass out. I'm sorry Sasuke, but I can't afford to lose."

Gritting his teeth Sasuke said, "Neither can I!" Using all his strength he stepped back and pulled his hands back making Masashi fall forward and he brought his right knee up hitting Masashi square in the face. He continued this, kept pulling Masashi forward and bringing his right knee up to hit him in the same spot. Masashi attempted to pull away, but Sasuke kicked him right in his injured leg making him stop. Sasuke leaned forward and head butted Masashi in his head dazing the gennin, not feeling any pain himself meaning that the paralysis was soon.

Sasuke could feel his muscles contracting, "Not yet!" he shouted, pulling Masashi forward again he brought his right knee up using all his strength he kneed him once again, but this time hitting the jaw and he saw Masashi's eyes roll to the back of his eyes falling forward, Sasuke could feel everything go dark as he fell to his side passing out. Both boys fell to the ground unconscious.

Everyone was shocked, both boys were done for. The proctor ran over checking to see if they were okay.

Kushina looked to Onoki asking, "What will we do? Both boys are out for the count."

Onoki thought about the outcome. Kushina, Tsunade, Mei, Ao, and the Suna nins were looking at him wanting to hear this. Onoki said, "Both boys won't be treated. Who ever wakes up first will be allowed to continue and if neither boy is in any condition to continue. Than it looks like Gaara won't have an opponent next round." Onoki looked to his Iwa ninja and told him to tell the proctor about his decision.

Doing as he was told he made it down to his fellow Iwa nin and told him. The proctor nodded and shouted, "Due to the result of the battle there won't be a determined winner until one of the boys wake up! We will continue to the next fight!" Some medics walked over and the proctor told them to only remove the goo from the boys' hands and do nothing else.

The medics had to carry both of them side by side. Haru was upset thinking, 'Dammit! Looks like it'll be up to us to win this thing I guess.' The proctor walked into the room and looked at the two kunoichis, "Yamanaka, Hyuuga. You two ready?"

Haru looked behind her and saw that both Hinata and Ino were looking at each other with intense eyes. Ino and Hinata walked side by side out to the battlefield, Haru was highly anticipating this match. She wanted to know who'd win this battle, because after she fights then she'll be fighting one of her two friends. Who will it be? Hinata or Ino?

Both girls faced each other both an arms length across from each other. Ino said, "Come at me like you want to win Hinata-chan."

Hinata nodded, "Only if you'll do the same. I can't prove how strong I am if you don't." Ino gave her a confirming nod and they stepped back giving each other some distance. Ino thought to herself, 'Charging into a fight with her would be suicide. I have to be even smarter on this one.'

'I can't take Ino lightly otherwise I'll end up like Temari.' Hinata thought.

Ino held two kunais in each hand to prepare and Hinata took the same stance as before. The proctor saw that they were ready so there was no reason to delay the fight, "Begin!"

Hinata didn't think twice about charging at Ino. This was her chance, she was getting closer and closer to showing everyone that she's not the same scared little girl that needs protection.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Akatsuki Hideout *

Naruto was sitting down in a chair with the hologram of Kakuzu standing next to him. Naruto said to him, "Did I join Akatsuki at the wrong time or something?" Kakuzu looked at Naruto the moment he spoke, "It seems like everyone is looking over their shoulder at this point."

"That's the kind of organization we joined. A band of criminals, there is no honor amongst ourselves here. You either get the jump on one of them or they will get you." Kakuzu told him, "What if I was the traitor? What would you do?"

Naruto instantly looked at him wondering why he'd ask that. He thought about it and answered, "What could I do? If you 'were' the traitor than I'd of course follow. After all aside from Kisame I don't see myself really with anyone here… Besides..." Naruto stood up and touched his patch that was over his right eye, "Everything I'm doing at this point is for my own goal. If I have to kill one of our own members to reach it than I will."

Kakuzu asked the blonde, "What of your dream?"

Naruto looked to Kakuzu and answered, "Can't say for certain. What of yours tou-san?"

Naruto watched as Kakuzu looked away and heard him change the subject, "Keep your wits about you. Things seem to be getting worse, we've yet to capture a biju and now the nations know of our existence it'll be more difficult to move about." Naruto didn't question why he changed the subject. He stood up asking Kakuzu, "There are a lot of things that I'm hearing about that is causing us trouble."

"Like?"

Naruto listed, "We have the biju to worry about, we need a lot of money, the nations will be giving us trouble soon, the problem of fighting Orochimaru, and we have to worry about a traitor amongst us. Pain hasn't even told us what to do except to keep on our toes." Kakuzu remained quiet, Akatsuki was falling apart. Their cover blown, the nations are after them, and a traitor had just given Sunagakure a location as to one of their safe houses.

Kakuzu told Naruto, "Pain has told me to continue your training. I'll be meeting up with you soon, so be ready." After he spoke the hologram of Kakuzu vanished. Naruto closed his left eye and whispered, "Byakugan." he felt the familiar pulse under his right eye patch scanning the room and far above and it for anyone who could be around, he didn't see any kind of device or seals that could give away that he was being spied on, 'Madara didn't set up anything that could result in eavesdropping. If he did that'd put the other Akatsuki ninja on alert and make them more paranoid.' He could see Kisame was a good distance away and was maintaining his sword in another room of the base. There was no Zetsu around neither to unexpectedly appear out of nowhere.

Now that it was safe Naruto bit the inside of his cheek to draw blood and he spat on the ground seeing blood fall, doing some handsigns he slammed his hand to the ground and said, "Summoning Jutsu." A small puff of smoke shot out revealing Gamakichi who had a scroll on his back. The orange toad grabbed the scroll and handed it to Naruto saying, "I got what you wanted boss."

Naruto took the small scroll and handed an orange one to him, "Gamakichi be careful with this one. Read the instructions and do as it says and the rest will be handled." Gamakichi took the scroll and attached it to his back. Gamakichi told Naruto, "We have to hurry up boss. Konoha is making a move, but I also heard from my pops that Orochimaru is moving."

Thinking Naruto said to Gamakichi, "I heard from the Akatsuki that Orochimaru is on the move I planned this when I heard that news, but for now just follow through with the instructions in the scroll. I'll think of another plan later.." Gamakichi nodded and disappeared. Naruto sat in the chair and unraveled the scroll. The scroll had info on a two ninjas, his newfound abilities peeked his interest on how he should fight and he refused to tell Kisame in particular about this and only trusted Kakuzu with this once he was sure it could work.

The scroll had the info as,

Name: Enka

Age: 34

Gender: Male

Rank: Jounin (A-Rank)

Affiliation: Rogue Ninja (formally Yukigakure)

Naruto looked over the info collected on him and after he was done he looked further down the scroll to the other ninja

Name: Junko Touken

Age: 26

Gender: Female

Rank: Chunnin

Affiliation: Ishigakure

As he read about the man and the woman. In order for his plan to work he would need these two as well as two others and to complete the necessary training to do so. He knew that Kakuzu would allow him this, after all Kakuzu wanted to fight strong opponents. He knew as well that if he was to defeat Kakuzu than he would need these two ninjas in particular to help with that.

He rolled up the scroll and decided to do some solo training until Kakuzu returned.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

Okay so next chapter will be Hinata vs Ino, Haru vs Yu, and other fights. I hope I still have some tricks up my sleeve that'll keep everyone guessing. These multiple fight scenes take time to write out and think, so updates on ones like this one will take some time. I think I'll get the next chapter out sometime before this month ends.

I kinda want the exams to be over with because of my plans for the events following the Three Year Time Skip. This story won't be as long as Naruto's Rise, but I do hope that it'll be a favorite amongst my fans.

Oh I also have plans for a third Naruto story. It'll be a short ten chapter story, but it won't be released until this story is finished. It also will not be a sequel or prequel of either my Naruto stories, but something else entirely. It'll be a NaruHina of course anyway I'll release more information about this new story on the last chapter when Raised a Criminal is completed.


	30. End of the Exams

Chapter 30: End of the Exams

The last Arc of the Exams finally done with and I can get to work on the next arc. Please enjoy the new chapter.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

The battle was a bit one sided with Ino retreating from Hinata. She kept throwing a few poison coated kunai Hinata's way, but she was evading the attacks quite easily not letting the weapons even graze her. Ino had only one shot in using her Mind Body Switch, but it was more than likely that Hinata would discover her ploy and evade it. There was nowhere to hide from Hinata's eyes as well. All her plans were dwindling down to nothing. Hinata thought to herself, 'I can't over exert myself. I have to still be in decent shape for when I fight against Haru in the next round.'

Ino pulled out some some more kunais and threw them at Hinata's feet, but the kunoichi simply side stepped each one. Ino didn't have many ideas left in her arsenal except for her clan's signature jutsu which seemed to now be her only real option with the only problem would be to cast the jutsu. Smoke bombs won't work since Hinata's kekkei genkai would see right through it, trying to make Hinata lose balance was also out since she had been trying that for awhile now. Hinata stopped her attack and waited, so far Ino was doing good at keeping her distance and using genjutsu on Ino would only by her a second before the blonde breaks it, 'I'm getting nowhere with this chase. I have to think of something that'll help me in this round.' Taking a chance to think of a new strategy both kunoichi were a considerable distance from each other. Hinata was trying to think of the best way to close the distance between them where she is more dominate. While her mind drifted she thought, 'What would Naruto-kun do in this kind of situation… Of course Naruto-kun had strategies for long distance combat, but what would he do?'

Ino like Hinata was trying to think of a strategy, but nothing came to mind yet. The wind blew gently and her long hair drifted to the side letting her catch a glimpse of it, when she looked at her hair she instantly thought, 'Of course! Kaa-san's jutsu!' Ino grinned which didn't go unnoticed to the Hyuuga. Ino reached into her ninja pouch and pulled out a kunai and wrapped her other hand around her ponytail and cut it off confusing Hinata. Ino took a deep breath, 'I only have one shot at this, but here it goes.' Ino immediately began to charge at Hinata to put her plan into motion. Hinata readied herself for her friend still trying to figure out her plan. Approaching closer she threw her hair at Hinata's feet and watched as her blonde hair split and landed all around Hinata. She slid over to Hinata who brought her hand back to strike then all of a sudden Hinata couldn't move her body.

She was seriously sweating at this point, Ino was on the ground and had slid right in between Hinata's legs her right hand on her hairs that were on the floor and Hinata's palm was inches from her face. Ino stood up careful not to move the hairs on the floor around otherwise the intertwining ones could untangle and the jutsu would be lost. Hinata was stuck in her position watching Ino stand up with her right hand still on the ground and later replaced it with her right foot.

Haru watched from the gennin's box amazed that Ino thought of such a plan and was able to pull it off on Hinata using sheer luck, she knew what was coming next. The same thing that happened to Temari. Ino was on one knee and she told Hinata, "Sorry Hinata, but this is a chance for me as well. I don't want my dad to think that I'm that same irresponsible girl from the Academy I know that winning today is a huge deal for you as well, however it is for me too." Ino went through the handsigns and she saw that Hinata's Byakugan was still activated and looking at her face she saw no animosity but only kindness like she always shows. Ino hesitated on the final seal and then began from the beginning. Once she finished she aimed her hands at Hinata ready to use her jutsu.

Hinata began to sweat fearing that this was it, but her eyes widened when she saw something with her byakugan. Ino felt a huge wind blow by though ignoring it she shouted, "Mind Body Switch-". Before she could finish Hinata was finally able to move again and she reached out and grabbed Ino's left wrist and pulled her arm forward and Hinata drove her left palm right into Ino's stomach knocking the shocked blonde out cold. Hinata felt Ino go limp and she held onto her friend so she wouldn't fall to the ground.

The proctor announced, "The Winner! Hinata Hyuuga!"

There were a few claps of approval, but not as many since this fight wasn't as exciting though it had it's moment. Up in the stands Hiashi was standing at the entrance after seeing Neji and remained still the entire fight a bigger smile now graced his lips. With the jounin Hana asked, "What happened? I was sure that Ino-chan had this fight."

"It was luck." everyone looked at Kakashi who explained, "I barely saw it. The wind."

"Wind?"

"Hahaha, yeah I saw it too." The group looked at Arashi who was smiling, "That strong breeze that blew by moved those hairs around and since there were no overlapping or intertwining hairs to the ones Hinata-chan was standing on the jutsu broke. Hinata-chan did react quickly once the jutsu broke however no hesitation on her part."

Inoichi sighed that his daughter didn't get the victory, but was very pleased with how she fought. She still has that hesitating moment, but he was sure that she'd get over it soon. Asuma lit his cigarette and said, "Looks like the only ones left are Kakashi and Kurenai's students."

Hinata helped Ino onto the stretcher that was brought out by the medics, "Take care of my friend." The medics agreed and ran off with Ino, when they reached the doors leading out of the arena they suddenly opened and they stopped to see Masashi limping out gritting his teeth. In the kage's box everyone was amazed that they boy was still moving let alone walking. At that moment a Iwa nin appeared next to Onoki.

"Tsuchikage-sama I have news. Masashi had awaken and insisted that he come to the arena despite the medics disapproval."

"I can see that. What of the Uchiha?" Onoki asked.

"Sir, the poison in the Uchiha was too great to allow him to continue without medical attention. To save his life we had to intervene, but Masashi had awoken before the medics could begin so technically Masashi is the victor." The Iwa nin said happily. Onoki looked at Kushina asking, "Are you okay with this?"

Kushina nodded, "Yes, it can't be helped. Masashi is able to continue and Sasuke couldn't. I'm sure my husband would feel the same way." Onoki stood up and went over to announced, "The result of the battle between Masashi and the Uchiha is that Masashi is the victor and shall move to the the next round!" Kushina looked over her shoulder at Tsunade and whispered to her, "Tsunade please go check on our Leaf gennin and make sure that their injuries are not to damaging."

"I was about to ask you if I could. I'll be back soon." said Tsunade, she turned to leave and Onoki witnessed her departure asking, "Where is she off to?"

"She's going to check on our gennins. I am worried about them since all of them are children of my friends, you understand don't you?" Kushina asked looking at him. Onoki shook his head, "Not at all it's perfectly natural. Your kid is up next." Kushina looked from Onoki to Mei who was looking back at her smiling. Mei leaned over whispering, "Reminds you of our battle doesn't it?"

Kushina nodded and giggled a bit the memory of their battle was fresh in her mind. This certainly was going to be a good fight between two talented kunoichis.

Hinata and Masashi returned to the gennins box and both saw that Haru and Mei were staring the other down, the two know about the famed battle between Kushina and Mei. Haru and Yu were smiling at each other and turned to leave, Hinata noticed that Haru forgot her giant sword and her summoning scrolls, "Haru-chan you left your-"

"I won't be needing them." Haru told her, "I'll be fine." She gave Hinata a thumbs up and a grin then left to the field. The proctor saw that the girls wordlessly took their positions and there was no need to ask if they were ready since the look in their eyes was a clear indication that they were ready, "Okay let's… Start!"

He was blown away by their speed, they had dashed at one another and he just saw punches and kicks coming from everywhere both still with that smile on their faces. Kakashi was watching this fight intently wondering how far Haru's taijutsu has come, she didn't display a lot of it in the last round which brought him to question if she was going to use it, however now he can see that she was waiting for a good opponent to fight. Arashi was on the edge of his seat so far only a few hits have landed and yet they never slowed the pace of the fight.

Haru ducked under a punch and kicked out hitting Yu in her chest sending her stumbling back, then used her hands pushing her self in Yu's direction trying to hit her with a flying kick. Yu turned to the side avoiding it and did a front kick hitting the blonde girl in her stomach knocking her to the ground. Haru was quick to recover and began using her strange fighting style. Five minutes of the fight was just a back and forth fist fight the spectators could see no use of ninjutsu or kenjutsu just pure taijutsu. Every time one girl landed a punch the other would land one too, this back and forth brawl was just exciting.

Kurenai smiled thinking, 'This is getting really exciting.' Hana was pleased as well, this was showing everyone that kunoichis were just a valuable warrior as their male counterparts.

Yu grabbed Haru by her wrist and tried to throw her, but Haru countered by both yanking away and kicking her in the leg making Yu lose her balance. Haru tried to kick Yu in the face, but she blocked with both her forearms and grabbed Haru's leg tossing her surprisingly not to the pool of water but away from it. Haru was quite enjoying herself in this fight.

The quick engagements in their exchanges happened almost for an instant before they would give the other room to rest then attack yet again. So far both were showing a high tolerance for pain as most of the punches and kicks thrown were meant to cripple the opponent, as the fight dragged on however Yu was starting to feel the fatigue while Haru showed no sign of slowing down. Yu kicked at Haru once more to create distance and did a few flips away landing on the watery surface.

Haru noticed the handsigns and got ready with her own.

"Water Style: Water Whip!" Yu sent out a whip from the water aimed at Haru's feet. Quick to react Haru whispered lowly, "Massive Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The field was covered in a veil of smoke hiding Haru and not allowing Yu to see if her whip hit, she retracted it and heard a shriek seeing Haru dangle from it. Yu quickly made the whip snap Haru into the air and quickly made it hit Haru so hard that it split her in half at her waist and watched as it disappeared into a puff of smoke. She returned her attention to the smoke cloud. She heard Haru's voice scream, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and what she saw next shocked her amazingly, flying from the smoke were a countless number of shurikens. She quickly stopped the flow of chakra to her feet and allowed herself to fall into the water and once under she looked up and saw shuriken after shuriken fly above the water with almost no end.

She activated a bubble technique that allowed her to breath underwater for a time which she only needed until Haru's attack ended, when it finally did she saw the smoke from Haru's jutsu drift over the water most likely the wind was doing this. She suddenly felt a tug at her ankle and saw Haru, she kicked Haru off in the face and saw it disappear, 'Another clone.' thought Yu. She swam up out of the water and pulled herself to stand on it's surface, but the moment she did she was punched in the face. She looked around, but the smoke was still hiding Haru.

More punches and kicks hit her from every angle, when she swung out the clone she assumed what was hitting her retreated back into the mist. She was annoyed since this happened with TenTen, but except it should be Yu doing the attacking and Haru scrambled and confused. Using her whip jutsu again she motioned for it to hit in a complete circular motion and one after another she heard pops most likely the clones being hit, but instead of a pop she heard a shriek, 'Got you."

She made her whip latch on to the last thing it hit and she dragged it over to her at fast speeds, when the blur was in sight she pulled her fist back and hit Haru square in the jaw. She was sure she was the victor though Haru begged to differ, rather her clone did as it exploded into smoke blinding Yu even further. Haru actually took the hit for a clone and then moved out of the way letting the clone be captured. When it did she followed after it the best she could.

While Yu was blind Haru slid at the girl and kicked her in the jaw sending her flying into the air. Haru summoned out more clones shouting out, "Let's go!" The clones agreed and leapt into the air to attack Yu. Not wanting to be finished like her comrade Yu adjusted herself in the air and did her clan's handsigns taking a deep inhale, 'Lava Style: Eruption Cannon!' She spat out two lava blasts that hit the clones making them explode. Haru saw the lava bombs coming her way and quickly got out of the way, when the lava hit the water steam shot out making the water hot and more of a blinding smoke. Yu landed on the water and listened intently, but could hardly hear since the bubbling and steaming sound caused by her jutsu.

She needed to get out of her, so she ran off the water and onto land and took a deep breath. She looked at the water and took a few steps back since she knew that Haru was in there, a popping sound caught her attention and she looked around and saw a little bit of smoke she almost tripped on a big rock, then another, and another. That's when she realized that there were no big rocks by the water before, "Shit!"

The rocks were covered in smoke and she was to late to react as Haru's clones launched at her grabbing her and holding her down with more clones jumping on her into a dog pile. Haru dashed out of the smoke and ran at the pile of clones and grabbed the first pair of feet she saw and ran pulling a clone out, each clone was holding onto another clones foot, and the same with the others save for the last one who held onto Yu's ankles. Once Haru was a good enough distance she began to whip the clones around the air before making a slamming motion, the chain of Haru's aimed for the ground with the last one slamming into the ground causing a bit of a tremor. A few clones who hit the ground in the event of the attack disappeared, but not all did.

Haru wanted to end this and quickly ran to the crater where Yu was in, she saw the Kiri nin stand up badly injured. Yu didn't have enough strength to fight back and heard a some quick patter of someone's feet, looking into the direction she saw Haru dive at her with her fist ready to strike… that was the last thing she saw coming. Haru punched Yu in the cheek hard making Yu fly a good five feet knocked out. Haru was breathing a bit hard satisfied with the battle.

The proctor raced over to Yu and checked her pulse finding it very faint, motioning another group of medics he shouted, "Winner! Haru Namikaze!" The audience stood up and applauded, it wasn't as flashy as a few of the other fights, but it showed a battle of attrition. Haru immediately ran over to Yu and picked her up and took her halfway to meet up with the medics halfway.

With only three fights to go the proctor announced, "The Semi-Final rounds shall begin shortly! Gaara no Sabaku vs Masashi Kamizuru and Hinata Hyuuga vs Haru Namikaze!" Haru froze and a frown appeared on her face, she turned her head slightly and she locked gazes with Hinata seeing the pained look on her face as well. The proctor announced, "There will be a thirty minute intermission to allow the contestants to gain some strength back! Take this time to eat and go about some business before the matches begin!" A lot of people in the audience left to stretch and do a few other things.

Kushina felt Tsunade's presence and felt a hand on her shoulder knowing that it was Tsunade, "Kushina, the gennin are fine. Exhausted and all are awake, they're going to come up to watch the remainder of the fights in a reserved section that the Iwa nins set up." Kushina nodded whispering a thank you to Tsunade. A ninja of Onoki's appeared bowing before him. He leaned over to Onoki and whispered in his ear, it must've been some good news since it brought a smile to the older nin's face. Onoki thanked him and waved him off

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Thirty Minutes Later: Somewhere in Iwagakure *

Kakuzu and Hidan were walking back to the hideout where Naruto and Kisame were waiting. They wanted to wait for the heat to die down before they moved on, but Kakuzu stopped suddenly and said to Hidan, "Wait."

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Looking around Kakuzu turned around and headed in another direction, "This way."

Hidan asked in a very irritated tone, "The fuck why? We've been changing course every freakin time! What are you not telling me!å"

"Just shut up and follow me." Kakuzu demanded. Hidan grumbled under his breath and followed Kakuzu. Meanwhile up ahead two Iwa ninja squads were hiding amongst the giant rocks and they saw the two Akatsuki ninjas and one said, "Report to the other unit that they're heading South/West now." The other Iwa nin nodded and turned looking at a small flightless bird with long legs. He wrote somethings down on a small piece of paper and tied it to the bird sending it off. The bird then ran off at amazing speeds to the other Iwa unit.

"How long do you think we can tail them for? Most of our ninjas are guarding the village incase of an attack." asked one of the Iwa nins. The other replied, "Not sure. It seems like they are not trying to gain attention. It doesn't make sense, come on let's continue to follow them." The two came out from their hiding spot and started to chase after the two Akatsuki ninjas.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Stadium *

The proctor stood in the center of the battlefield, the Tsuchikage had sent out some Iwa ninjas to repair the field using their earth styled jutsu, so now the field was cleared of all damage though the weapons from the battles were left behind. He looked around and saw people were starting to take their seats and that the Daimyo's were ready to continue, he looked to the Tsuchikage first and saw that his kage wished for him to continue.

He said loud enough for all to hear, "The Semi-Finals shall now begin!" He saw everyone who weren't seated yet hurry back to their seats to watch the conclusion of the fights, "Gaara no Sabaku and Masashi Kamizuru come to the battlefield now!"

Haru and Hinata sat in their seats and looked over seeing that Masashi limp to the battlefield with Gaara walking slowly next to him.

Han stood in his position at one of the entrances and heard two Iwa ninjas sitting not to far off say, "Damn monsters thinking that they are superior."

"I know right. That Gaara kid is a monster and that Namikaze's bastards child is no different. Monsters all of them." said the other. His friend replied, "If they do make it to the finals I hope they kill each other off, do the world a favor."

Han made no attempt to say anything, that's how things were in this village. Being a jinchuriki was a curse which is why he warned Kakashi, 'The more these two show their skills as jinchuriki the more the world will fear us and cast us out.' He saw Gaara and Masashi stand across from each other, 'That Gaara kid certainly doesn't care how much blood he spills, but the Namikaze seems reluctant to finish off her opponents and instead worries about their safety.' The two gennins couldn't be more opposite.

Masashi was a bit better except for the throbbing pain in his leg he was a lot better than earlier. Gaara showed no signs of injury even though he took a massive beating from Lee in the first round.

"Okay you both ready to end this? Winner goes to the finals."

"Ready." said Masashi. Gaara only nodded wanting to get this over with. The proctor stepped back and rose his hand saying, "Okay… Begin!"

Masashi started off by summoning out his bugs and telling them to open fire at Gaara. The hornets flew up into the sky and fired their stingers at Gaara who stood still letting his sand block the attacks, Gaara stood there motionlessly with his arms crossed watching Masashi's feeble attempts to defeat him. Masashi picked up some weapons off the ground and tossed some at Gaara seeing the weapons get stuck in the sand. Masashi was watching as none of his attacks were working and from when he watched Gaara's previous battles he knows that his sand can move very quickly and with the way his leg was there would be no guarantee that he would evade the attack. Gaara started moving his hands trying to make his sand engulf Masashi's legs.

He tried his best to move away from the sand, but eventually it wrapped around his ankle and tossed him into the air. Gaara aimed his hands at Masashi and whispered, "Sand Bullets." Sand shot out from the ground taking a small round form. Masashi saw the attack coming and crossed his arms over his face and was hit by the numerous bullets that cut him up pretty bad. As he fell to the ground he wiped some of the blood off of his arm and ran through some handsigns shouting, "Summoning Jutsu!"

A massive ball of smoke came out and Gaara looked up and saw that Masashi was sitting atop a large hornet, Masashi cursed, 'Dammit… I'm spent.' The hornet was big enough for Masashi to stand atop it's head. The giant hornet opened it's mouth and spat out a giant wave of sticky goo, Gaara summoned his sand back and jumped out of the way of the goo knowing it's affect from Masashi's previous battles. Masashi made an order for his insects to surround Gaara so he couldn't move. Stopping Gaara looked all around and saw the bugs had surrounded him and they all started to fire their stingers at Gaara making his sand come up to protect him. Cursing under his breath Gaara could faintly see the giant hornet open it's mouth again ands shot out it's goo.

Gaara made his sand surround him in a kind of dome getting drenched in the goo and making the sand practically useless. Masashi fell to his knees and said to his giant summons, "Keep attacking! We can't give him an inch of rest." His giant hornet flew into the air and aimed it's stinger at the dome of goo and sand ready to attack. Masashi was watching safely atop the hornet's head. Right before the attack he saw a small circular object floating just above the dome, "What is that?"

Right before the attack sand shot out of the ground and surrounded the hornet's wings shredding them to pieces making it fall to the ground, Masashi fell off and barely looked up seeing his summons surrounded by more sand. He heard a cracking sound and saw Gaara raise out of the ground without his gourd, Masashi now knew that his sand gourd was what he used to cripple his hornet. Gaara looked at Masashi and saw sand form around Gaara's fist, "You put up a struggle, but in the end you just weakened yourself." The sand took the shape of a large cestus with spikes coming out of the knuckles, dashing at Masashi he hit the boy in his chest knocking him back and the wind out of him. Gaara saw him skid across the ground and finally come to a stop holding his chest in pain.

Han continued watching from the stands hearing everyone bad mouth jinchurikis more for their brutality, 'What will you do boy?'

Gaara approached Masashi and stood above him hearing his sand tear the giant hornet to pieces. The smaller hornets flew at Gaara shooting stingers at him, but the sand surrounding his body protected him, pulling his fist back ready to strike Gaara expanded the spikes on his fist showing no emotion for what he was about to do. The proctor watched waiting for a chance to stop the fight if need be, he saw the gaze in the red head's eyes completely void of mercy.

'Gaara-kun.'

Gaara was about to punch Masashi in his chest, but the moment he was about to he hesitated after hearing his name. That voice came from inside his head, but it wasn't his beast that was talking to him, it sounded more like a woman's voice. He recognized the voice, but he didn't know from where, looking around with his fist still at the ready his eyes locked with the only one he believed to give him a challenge in this tournament… Haru Namikaze was giving him a pleading look one hoping that he wouldn't do what he planned on doing to this unfortunate gennin.

Masashi saw that Gaara wasn't looking at him and took this moment to get away using the last of his energy to dash away from Gaara, but the moment he was five feet away he felt something on his ankle seeing sand was wrapped around it. Gaara had the sand extend from his right hand tethering himself to him yanking him back Gaara grabbed him mid air and slammed him into the ground nearly making him loose consciousness. Gaara could end it now, but why wouldn't he? Why should he care about people who don't know real pain and suffering?

Gaara started to breathe heavily fighting with the thought of killing Masashi or letting him live.

Han and Haru watched wondering what the Suna Jinchuriki will do.

The proctor was about to stop the fight, but he looked at the Tsuchikage and saw the old man shake his head prompting him to stop and wait this battle out. Gaara pulled his fist back again making sand surround it again, **"JUST END IT GAARA…"** He can hear him now, **"ALL IT'LL TAKE IS ONE PUNCH AND EVERYONE WILL FEAR YOU FEEDING THAT DESIRE MORE. COME ON JUST DO IT."**

Gaara wanted to so badly, but her eyes, her eyes. Gaara glanced at her and saw that she still had that hope in her eyes that he wouldn't go through with it. His fist shook and he roared hitting Masashi in the face with his bare fist no sand surrounding it at all, the proctor raced over quickly and checked the boy seeing that he was out cold, "Winner! Gaara no Sabaku!"

The crowd was in shock that he didn't kill Masashi and instead let him live prompting everyone to question why he didn't do it. Han thought to himself, 'Why the change of heart all of a sudden?'

Kushina let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, so far no casualties and I hope we don't see one." Mei agreed, "Yes senseless violence is never the way."

Onoki looked passed the two women and starred intently at the Suna representative and his companion seeing a mixed emotion on both of their faces, 'So this is the first time this has happened? Save for that boy Lee they seemed more surprised that he didn't kill off someone as badly wounded as Masashi.' Baki sat in the shadows amazed by what Gaara did, 'Could this be about that girl he told me about?'

The hornets and the giant one disappeared and Gaara's sand went back to him making the gourd on his back again. Walking away he passed up Haru who was giving him a thankful smile, "I didn't do it for you." he said coldly, "I did it because I didn't want to waste anymore chakra." He walked over to a seat and sat down. Haru continued smiling knowing that that wasn't true, but didn't call him out on it. She instead looked at Hinata asking, "You ready for our fight?" Hinata gave her a small smile saying, "Hai. Let's do our best Haru-chan." The two kunoichi stood up and slowly walked out to the battlefield Haru was dragging the massive sword with her as she walked out to the center. The proctor was about to call the two girls, but already saw them walking over. They turned to face each other and waited for the proctor.

"No need to go over the rules right?" when he didn't get a response he said, "Okay let's go!"

Hinata attacked first dashing at Haru with her byakugan activated, closing the distance she saw that Haru started to swing the Kubikiribōchō horizontally. Hinata seeing the sluggish movement and speed dove above it reaching her arms out she grabbed Haru by her collar with both hands and flipped over Haru using momentum and tossed Haru. Continuing her assault Hinata struck Haru in her wrist making her let go of the Kubikiribōchō and once the blade was out of her hand she did a double palm strike to her chest knocking her further away from it. Haru recovered sliding on her feet and seeing Hinata chase her down as a counter she made the handsign to summon out more clones and successfully brought out twenty shouting, "Get her!"

The clones ran at Hinata trying to hit her using the strange taijutsu she learned, but Hinata was faster with her strikes and was hitting the clones with a few strikes that dispelled them. Haru was watching as he clones were being knocked around easily, 'Dammit my taijutsu is nowhere near as good as Hinata.' After Hinata dispatched the last clone she turned her sights on Haru, 'Crap! I can't lay traps I can't be tricky about anything. Those eyes can see everything.' She saw Hinata charge again and was ready for it. Haru tried to strike out at Hinata, but the agile Hyuuga leaned far back and grabbed Haru's left arm and struck a tenketsu point in her arm making Haru reel back and step away.

Hinata wasn't going to lose this opportunity to keep the pressure on her friend, charging forward she tried to hit Haru in her left shoulder but the blonde ducked out of the way in time and tried to kick Hinata with her right foot. Hinata saw the kick coming and caught Haru's leg and attempted to hit the tenketsu points in her leg. Thanks to Haru's quick reaction she was able to chop at Hinata's arm making her let go.

Haru stepped away from Hinata relaxing a moment, it was too dangerous to do that again. It seemed that Hinata had a plan for fighting against her by stopping an attack by catching the attack and countering by hitting the tenketsu. Haru could feel a numbing sensation in her arm most likely it was the loss of chakra in that area, 'Great Hinata was the one I was worried about in this tournament. For the first time… I don't know what to do.' With no other alternative Haru took out a scroll and unraveled it unsealing ten shurikens, 'Hinata knows what's coming next, but this is all I can do at the moment.' the unsealed shurikens flew at Hinata and Haru did the necessary handsigns making the shurikens multiply.

Hinata didn't hesitate in ducking and dodging the shurikens and she used her flexibility to maneuver around the shurikens. Kushina and Kurenai were amazed at her daring nature and the byakugan allowed her to see every shuriken from every angle allowing her to dodge the shurikens. Had they not known any better they could've sworn that Hinata was dancing.

Once out of danger Hinata attacked, but Haru was ready and unsealed a bo staff and jabbed one end of it toward Hinata keeping her away. Hinata distanced herself and brought her hand to a scroll that was untouched this whole time, 'A good a time as any to use this.' Hinata bit her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood and wiped it off her lip with her thumb, unraveling the scroll she spread her thumb over a seal smearing blood over it. Hinata had pulled out the black sword that belonged to Naruto and was wielding it in her right hand, tossing the scroll away Hinata aimed the sword at Haru. This was the opponent she wanted to use this sword on, Haru being a kenjutsu user she could showcase her skill with a sword.

Haru was unsure of how the situation would turn out, but she had to do something. Haru jumped at Hinata and started swinging her bo staff at Hinata who either evaded it or hit at it with the sword knocking it away. Haru's wooden staff was taking a beating, the sword wasn't cutting through it just chipping away at it making it more useless. Eventually Hinata blocked with the sword and struck out with her open left palm breaking the staff in half. Hinata tried to slice at Haru missing her, getting away quickly Haru kept her distance from Hinata, 'Even with a sword she's dangerous. Maybe I could overwhelm her, it's a long shot but it's the only thing I can think of at the moment.'

Haru brought her hands together again and shouted, "Massive Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The field was covered in smoke and Hinata saw an army of Haru's all holding a kunai, each clone ran in trying to attack Hinata though a few found themselves slain by her sword. Haru mixed herself in with the crowd of clones watching from a distance watching, these batch of clones did better than the first since Hinata was now being overwhelmed by the number of clones. Haru pulled out one last scroll and unsealed all of it's contents, "Okay grab a weapon!"

A few clones ran over grabbing a large array of weapons from swords, clubs, whips, sickles, hammers, etc… Haru considered this scroll to be her last resort. Hinata was finding it difficult fighting the way she was a strike with her left hand and a swing of her sword brought down a few, but these were clones of Haru who did better with weapons than hand to hand.

One clone ran at Hinata wielding an axe and had leapt into the air swinging it down at her, Hinata blocked using the sword feeling the weight of the clone and the force of the strike made her legs wobble. Two other clones kicked Hinata's legs out from behind her trying to make her fall on her back and they were successful. Hinata charged chakra to the bottom of her foot catching a kunai that was laying on the floor to stick to the bottom of her foot and she kicked hitting the clone with the axe in the back with the kunai making it disappear. She quickly stood up and grabbed the axe and went on a spree of taking out as many clones as possible. A whip shot out from the crowd and wrapped around the handle of the axe yanking it away from her. Hinata switched her sword so she could hold it in a reverse style and tossed it like a spear through the clones and hit the unsuspecting one with the whip. After the clone disappeared the sword stabbed into the ground and Hinata dashed through the clones hitting as many as she could with her hands aiming for the necks and chests when she finally got through she grabbed the sword and sliced at the clones stomachs taking many of them out.

Haru continued watching and she's never seen Hinata fight like this before. Hinata was taking a deep breath constantly moving like this without rest she still wasn't used to it, 'There are twenty-seven clones left and Haru is still hidden amongst them. Which one are you?' As she scanned the field of the remainders she was trying to figure out which was the real one, 'There you are!' Hinata quickly raced through the remaining clones blocking their attacks with the swords and ran to one of them and hit it with the tips of her fingers right in the center of her chest. The other clones disappeared and blood trickled down the corners of Haru's mouth. 'You were the only one without a weapon, so you had to of been the one distributing the bigger weapons.' I got you.

'Damn…' thought Haru, she held her chest and fell to her knees, Hinata pulled her had back ready to strike again. Haru looked up and saw everything moving in slow motion, 'Is this it?' She saw Hinata's hand move closer and closer, 'Do I fail again?' Hinata's hand was inches from hitting it's mark and instantly Haru's hand shot up and grabbed Hinata's wrist shocking her, 'No! Not yet!' Haru pulled Hinata forward and shot herself up with all her might kneed Hinata in the stomach, 'I won't lose like this!'

Everyone was shocked at Haru's speed, Hinata stood up ignoring the pain in her stomach and watch as she got away. Haru watched as Hinata was watching carefully and Haru thought to herself, 'I will lose this fight if I don't use it's chakra… Hinata-chan, I'm sorry.' Haru closed her eyes and brought her hands together thinking, 'Give me chakra!' Haru was suddenly engulfed in a wave of red chakra. Gaara and Han watched amazed from the stands as nine red streaks of chakra swung wildly in the air, Hinata watched stunned as Haru was producing such chakra feeling her legs weaken just a bit. Hinata's byakugan remained on Haru seeing all her wounds heal at an alarming rate.

After she was done healing the thin layer of red chakra remained and with amazing speed she vanished. Hinata held the sword out ready for an attack and for a split second she saw a fist and tilted her head just a bit, but she wasn't fast enough a cut appeared on the side of her face, "She's too fast." When Hinata tried to strike out at Haru she disappeared again. Hinata saw her again and moved her body out of the way and was yet again cut though this time it was by a kunai that hit her side. Haru was moving at an amazing speed she kept circling Hinata and cut her on her legs, arms, sides, and her back.

Haru appeared in front of Hinata and landed a punch hitting her in the chest knocking the wind out of Hinata who flew back skidding across the ground her sword separated from her landing far from her. Hinata was on her hands and knees coughing up some blood. The chakra around Haru dissipated and she saw Hinata stand on wobbly legs, 'Hinata-chan is strong very strong. Had this been the same Hinata before Naruto-nii showed up then I'm positive I wouldn't have this much trouble.'

"Haru-chan." Hinata called out, "Let's settle this with one strike."

Haru smiled and replied, "Okay, I don't mind at all." Hinata and Haru walked forward closing the distance. Kushina watched from the stands saying out loud, "This will end quickly."

Mei replied, "Yes, both of them did well in this fight. I wonder who will be the victor?" Onoki even said, "Who'll it be? The Namikaze Jinchuriki with raw power or the Hyuuga with the pinpoint strike? Interesting."

Once they were close enough both shot out at each other shouting Hinata pulled back her hand making her index and middle finger connect at a point while Haru pulled her right hand back making a fist and when they collided the ground ground cracked beneath them and some wind kicked up. They were both standing, Haru's fist hit Hinata in her diaphragm and Hinata landed her strike at Haru's shoulder. Haru frowned saying, "You missed on purpose didn't you?"

Hinata smiled and replied, "Look at me Haru-chan I wouldn't last ten seconds against the Suna nin. Even if I did win I'd just embarrass myself in the finals, but you… you'll win." Hinata fell to her knees with Haru holding onto her. The proctor walked over asking Hinata, "You okay to continue?" When Hinata shook her head the proctor shouted to the crowd, "Winner! Haru Namikaze!"

Kurenai stood up telling her comrades, "I'm going to the medical wing." Asuma replied, "Alright, but you'll be missing the final round."

"True, but I need to check on my two students. See ya." she said waving goodbye to them. The medics picked up Hinata placing her on the stretcher and taking her to the medics to be healed, Haru watched them leave and saw Hinata's sword laying on the ground and quickly picked it up and ran it over to them shouting, "Wait!" When the medics stopped she and Hinata were looking at each other. Haru placed the sword on top of Hinata saying, "I thought you might want this back."

Hinata placed her hand over the sword saying, "Arigatou Haru-chan… Do your best okay?"

Haru puffed her chest out saying, "Don't worry I will!" The medics started to leave again taking Hinata away. Haru watched as they left and turned to grab her giant sword to await to be called again.

Kushina smiled, "They both are very strong." Onoki shifted in his seat, "That girl is gutsy. You don't see many ninjas with that quality now-a-days."

The proctor announced a thirty minute wait before the final round to allow the participants to get some rest and prepare for the final round. Time seemed to have gone by quickly as they everyone waited for the finals to begin all the leaf ninjas were wondering if Haru would use the Kyuubi's chakra in this battle like the last one.

The rest of the time went by rather quickly. Haru was sitting in her seat holding onto the Kubikiribōchō, she glanced at Gaara who was still leaning against the wall with his arms crossed with his eyes closed. Haru looked back at her giant sword trying to think of any method that could bring her victory in the final round, the moment her eyes left Gaara his were implanted on her watching her.

"You two ready?"

They looked at the proctor who was standing at the entrance, Haru nodded and dragged the sword with her while Gaara silently walked behind her. When they reached the battleground all that was around them were discarded weapons from all the previous battles. Before the match started all the leaf gennins who participated made it to watch the finals with their senseis. Sasuke sat irritated with his own performance, Shino remained silent, Ino and TenTen were sitting at the edge of their seats waiting for the match to start, Neji sat next to Hiashi waiting patiently. Kakashi thought, 'Let's see what you have planned this time Haru."

Arashi's hand was shaking a bit worried for his sister, Hana saw this and covered his hand with hers calming him a bit. This was an exciting match for Iwa despite that none of their ninjas were in the finals, while others held on to the animosity of the two jinchuriki. Han was interested in how this would end.

Gaara stood with his arms crossed saying, "The wait is over."

"Yeah. Was I worth the wait?" she asked smugly.

Gaara didn't answer and looked to the proctor wondering when the fight would start. After he saw Gaara starring he asked, "You two ready to end this?" He saw both of them starring at each other nodding in approval, "Alright." he cleared his throat and shouted, "The Finals shall begin now! We're gifted with two promising young gennin who'll show us why they deserve to be here!" he pointed to both Gaara and Haru looking back and fourth between the two taking a few steps back, "Ready… Get set…. Go!"

Attacking first Gaara sent out some sand, Haru charged chakra through the sword and swung it shooting out a mass of wind chakra that easily blew the sand away. Gaara shielded his eyes for a moment and saw Haru in the air now aiming the sword's point down at him trying to stab him, he moved out of the way and Haru crashed to the ground kicking up dust. Gaara shot his sand into the dust trying to catch her though the slippery blonde escaped jumping out of the dust cloud and saw her whip laying on the ground from the previous fight. Reaching out she grabbed it and sent it where the Kubikiribōchō was and when she had a grasp on it she whipped it over at Gaara with all her strength.

He saw the blade coming at him and blocked with his sand, 'Crap!' is what he thought when he saw that the sword as covered in explosive tags. Haru activated the tags causing a massive explosion, picking up more weapons off the floor she tossed as many as she could pick up into the smoke hoping at least one got through. She picked up some shurikens in her left hand and two kunai in her right making sure to stay away from the explosion center.

Two sand tendrils shot out tearing through the ground in her direction, Haru jumped in the air and tossed two kunai at the sand hitting them and cutting off the circulation of chakra. The moment she landed sand shot out of the earth and grabbed hold of her ankle lifting her into the air and slamming her down with great impact. Gaara stepped out of the smoke cracking lines were all over his face that were slowly repairing.

Baki said, "Gaara used to much chakra in his previous fights and hasn't has time to properly rest… His sand isn't repairing as quickly as it usually does."

Gaara saw Haru jump up again holding the shurikens in her hand still, she brought her hands together shouting, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Ten clones appeared in the sky with her all holding shurikens to and they all tossed them at Gaara using the jutsu like before, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" the shurikens multiplied and he quickly brought his sand up to guard against the hailing shurikens. As she fell to the ground she held out her right hand and one of the clones helped her form the Rasengan, when she touched the ground two of her clones grabbed her jacket and tossed her at Gaara with as much strength as they could muster. She saw her jutsu stop and rammed her Rasengan in the sand.

His sand dented inward and Gaara quickly jumped out of the way nearly getting hit by the blue ball of chakra, his sand moved again to his side. The clones had started picking weapons off the ground and tossing them at Gaara making his sand defend continuing the assault, 'She's thinning out my sand!' Seeing her opportunity she dove at Gaara punched him square in the jaw making the second layer of sand break away. When Gaara hit the ground Haru brought her leg straight up and tried to hit him with an axe kick, countering Gaara aimed his arms at Haru and the thin sand on his arms shot out and knocked her away, getting back on his feet he saw the clones jump up ready to throw more shurikens he quickly summoned more sand surrounding his body into his hand in the form of a small ball the size of a golfball, "Sand Bullet!" The small ball shot out and hit one clone hard enough to make it disappear, he quickly changed the trajectory of the object making it hit the other nine clones making them all disappear.

Haru watched as her clones disappeared and touched her last scroll that was tucked into the pocket inside her jacket, 'No not yet.' she thought to herself leaving it in her jacket, looking around she saw her giant sword sticking out of the ground a bit beat up from the explosion. When she moved an inch a whip like sound was coming her way and she barely avoided a sand attack that almost hit her in the face. Gaara had his sand surrounding him and his second layer was still repairing itself slowly.

'I can't let him repair himself.' Glancing at the floor she saw all the weapons still on the ground, picking them up would leave her open to attack, she had a shot at using Rasengan again with her shadow clone. 'No he's wise to my shadow clones now, but not my trickster method just yet.' she grinned to herself and an idea came to her. She brought her hands together shouting, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" smoke covered Haru and out came seven blonde kunoichi and Gaara was ready for an attack. Haru and her clones ran at Gaara all getting ready to pick up a weapon off the ground, not letting her Gaara shot out another sand whip attack stopping all of them from picking up the weapons off the floor making all eight jump into the air. He whipped the sand at them again trying to hit all of them, two clones grabbed Haru and pushed her to the ground to avoid getting hit. The seven clones were hit and disappeared, picking weapons off the ground and tossed them at Gaara's head. The sand came back and blocked the weapons, when he moved the sand he saw more Haru clones running around.

'She used the seven clones in the beginning to make my whip hit at a wider angle giving her more time to get a weapon. Tossing those weapons at me to obscure my view of her summoning more clones, I'm underestimating her too much.' thought Gaara. There were fifteen clones including the real Haru amongst them running around the field, after picking up a few weapons they rushed at Gaara in pairs leaving the real Haru with one clone. When they attacked and the sand blocked Gaara tried to hit them with the sand, but one clone would grab onto the other and drag them away before hit making Gaara miss. He was being attacked from all angles making it difficult to counter effectively.

The real Haru was amongst the clones and was finally able to get her Kubikiribōchō, she quickly took out the scroll in her jacket pocket and summoned out two more clones, 'Okay now I can begin.'

"Enough!"

She looked back and saw Gaara explode sand outward capturing all the clones except for the two by Haru shouting, "Dessert Coffin!" gripping his fists the sand crushed all the clones destroying them. Haru handed her Kubikiribōchō to one clone saying, "You know what to do."

"Hai." and the clone ran off and jumped high into the air trying to slam the sword on Gaara. He looked up and saw the clone and quickly blocked with the sand shouting, "Is this all you got!" He saw the clone smile and disappear, Haru shouted, "Not at all!"

He looked ahead and saw the two clones holding each end of the completely unraveled scroll, Gaara shot out his sand at Haru trying to stop whatever they were planning. When the sand got close Haru bit her thumb and wrote something finishing touches on the scroll when the sand hit both Haru and the clone Gaara was about to grip his fist to crush them.

Haru quickly focused chakra into the scroll shouting, "Sealing Jutsu!" The sand started to get sucked into the scroll, Gaara watched stunned as his sand was absorbed into her scroll. Once all of the small amount of sand was taken into the scroll the two Haru's rolled it back up pointing at Gaara, "You're finished without your sand! I can win this now!"

The clone ran at Gaara pulling it's fist back about to hit Gaara, but sand shot out from beneath Gaara's feet catching the clone mid air. Haru shouted shocked, "What? But how?"

Gaara grinned, "Remember my gourd is made up of sand too. When you weren't looking I made the sand fall beneath my feet after you sealed away my sand." After he told her he crushed the clone making it vanish. Haru saw how thin his sand was now and was sure that it wouldn't be able to handle her Rasengan, quickly summoning out a clone. The smoke kicked up blocking Gaara's view, the next thing he saw was the smoke start to whirl around and he saw her holding a Rasengan in the palm of her hand.

The clone grabbed onto Haru's arm and tossed her at Gaara. As Haru flew through the air at Gaara she was close to hitting him, but Gaara shot sand and wrapped it around her left arm and around her waist holding her in the air and stopping the attack, "You lose."

Haru smiled and said, "No you do!" she vanished, as it turned out it was a clone and when the smoke clouded his vision he barely saw possibly the real Haru appear before him with her jutsu in her right hand, "Rasengan!" Gaara's sand came back to block but the Rasengan drove straight through the sand and hit Gaara in his stomach, before he was launched back he used as much of his sand to wrap around Haru and quickly clenched his fist crushing around her.

Haru and Gaara let out a scream in pain and Gaara was shot away from Haru landing into the ground and Haru fell to the ground her body numb with the sand laying around her.

Everyone in the audience was amazed by the battle, Arashi was gripping his fist till it turned white and Hana was trying her best to calm him. Kushina was watching from her seat as well gripping the hem of her shirt wanting nothing more to do than to rush down there to check on her wounded daughter.

As they laid there the proctor was annoyed that the two could possibly end the fight like this, that is until he heard someone walking. Turning his head he saw Gaara had stood up and was starting to limp over to Haru. He heard another sound and saw Haru standing up to a bit more bloodied up than Gaara was and she was even starting to limp toward Gaara as well.

When they were close enough Gaara tried to move the sand that had damaged Haru, but his lack of chakra stopped him from doing so. Haru smirked saying, "Out of chakra huh?"

"What about you? Why don't you summon out your demon's chakra?" he replied.

She shook her head, "No I won't do it again. I shouldn't have even used it then, I was desperate and wanted to advance to the finals. I don't want to always have to reply on that things chakra. What about you? Why haven't you been your usual killing nature self?"

He glared at her, "I'm not sure myself, maybe I wanted to sate my lust for killing until I fought you to prove what I really am." He looked down at his feet and saw a kunai in the ground, leaning down he picked it up and aimed the tip at her throat, "I am what I am… a monster and nothing will change that." A flash of anger coursed through Haru as she again quickly knocked Gaara's arm away and pulled her fist back to hit him, but stopped an inch away from his stunned face.

When he looked at her she saw that her head was down and he saw something fall to the ground, it looked like water. When she raised her head he could see that she was crying which was the greatest surprise, "W-Why are you doing that?" he asked.

Haru gritted her teeth before speaking, "Why do you call yourself that? Why be what your village calls you?" She looked at his forehead seeing the symbol that read 'love', "Why have that on your forehead? Who was it that you loved once?"

His eyes widened and he grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and slammed her down to the floor holding the kunai to her throat, "What would you know! You're someone who believes that you can save the world through understanding aren't you that everyone will have your ideals! The world isn't like that it's cold, dark, and unforgiving!" He pressed the kunai right against her skin, his mind kept telling him to just do it or maybe it was his demon, but something else was holding him back a familiar pain in his chest.

Haru smiled at him another surprising thing, "Remember when I said that you remind me of my brother." There was brief moment where Gaara remembered but didn't confirm it to her, "Your ideals are the same, but another thing that was similar… was this." she pointed to his chest over his heart. Haru kept smiling saying, "People call it whatever they want, but I believe now that I can see the real emotions in a person, you're not as evil as you claim." A small tear formed in the corner of her eyes, "I told you that I'd be your friend Gaara-kun." His eyes widened, but she leaned up and kissed Gaara on his lips. No one else could see what was going on from the angle they were at.

After Haru broke away from him she closed her eyes and passed out finally succumbing to the pain coursing through her body. Gaara was over her still wide eyed, the proctor walked over and saw that Haru was unconscious he lightly grabbed Gaara by his shoulder and pulled him off of Haru and grabbed his wrist holding it in the air shouting, "The winner is: Gaara no Sabaku!"

There were clammers about whether she was alive or not, but the proctor confirmed it when he called for medics. Gaara watched as she was picked up gently by a female medic, Gaara touched his lips then his chest feeling a pulsing sensation coming from his heart. Baki appeared next to Gaara smiling, "You did it. You showed everyone the power of our village." Gaara looked at him and lightly moved his hand away telling him, "Take me to her."

Baki asked, "Why Gaara?"

"Please." was all he asked. Baki didn't understand why he was acting like this, normally Gaara would demand that he'd be taken but the fact that he politely asked instead was something new. He nodded and walked alongside Gaara to the infirmary to also have him checked out. Kushina let out a sigh of relief that Haru wasn't killed in this fight, Onoki stood up from his seat and said, "Maybe next time both our villages might bring home the win."

Kushina replied, "Yeah, maybe next time." Kakashi appeared in the kage's box holding onto the Kubikiribōchō, "Excuse my sudden and uninvited interruption, but I though that the Mizukage would want this back." He held the sword out to Mei, she smiled asking Kakashi, "Tell me how she came into possession of this? Zabuza isn't one to just let anyone take it from him."

Kakashi told her, "When we fought… Haru said some things to Zabuza that…" Kakashi paused and looked at the ground, "Let's just say that he saw something in Haru and he wanted her to have it." Mei kept her smile and replied, "Then it is hers."

"Mizukage-sama."

Mei rose her hand to stop Ao from speaking any further, "Ao-san for whatever reason the Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi entrusted his prized possession to her. Despite what he had done in his past he was still a respected ninja and we will honor his last request." Ao was in no position to argue and stood back. Mei asked Kakashi, "But I would like to know where Zabuza's body is buried."

Kakashi knew that she would ask, "He's buried on top of a hill overseeing the Land of Waves village alongside his student I believe to of been a member of the Yuki clan." Mei and Ao looked at one another and the Hunter-nin caught on and left most likely to go collect the bodies. Onoki told everyone, "Okay now that this is over the Kage and the representatives may leave whenever they so choose and I would like to thank you all for coming all this way."

Kushina, Mei, and the Suna representative stood up and all bowed to the old kage. Kushina said to him, "I regret that my husband wasn't able to attend, but as it is well known it isn't very good to keep four Kages in one confined area." Onoki nodded, "I understand completely. Tell that husband of yours that he has one special kid there." Kushina nodded, "I'll do that."

Mei walked up to Kushina saying, "How about a drink. It's been sometime since we've seen each other and it'll be my treat." Kushina agreed and they walked off first with Kakashi following behind them to leave as well. When the Suna representatives were about to leave Onoki walked in front of both of them saying, "You can drop the act now Chiyo, Ebizo."

"Never could put one past you."

The two suna nins had smoke surrounded them turning out to be a transformation jutsu. Instead before him were two elderly people, the first was a woman with very light short purple hair with bangs framing the sides of her face, a brown headband, many noticeable wrinkles and a few liver spots. The other was just as old as her and elderly man with very long gray eyebrows, many wrinkles and some liver spots with a white turban covering the top of his head. Both of them were wearing a dark poncho like outfit that covered them from the neck down.

Onoki replied, "The Honored Siblings of Sunagakure in my presence. Nostalgic isn't it." Ebizo said to him, "It has been a long time, forgive us for trying to deceive you it was part of the assignment our Kazekage gave us."

"Oi Ebizo theres no reason you need to apologize to this bag of bones." Chiyo told him, Onoki glared at her, "You're one to talk. Now something is wrong here, that boy wouldn't send two of the oldest members of Sunagakure just to spectate the tournament."

Chiyo nor Ebizo didn't answer, "That's classified. Just be glad that nothing did happen."

"It has something to do with the Kazekage's boy. I'm gonna go on a limb here and say that you were here to stop him from doing something stupid." When neither answered again it only confirmed his suspicion, "I'm also gonna guess that he didn't do what you expected."

Smiling the elder kunoichi told him, "Goodbye Tsuchikage-sama. We'll be leaving now." Onoki saw both bowed to him and then turned to leave, he smiled after they left messing with his beard, "These exams are more lively than the previous ones held here. Makes me feel nostalgic."

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Somewhere in Iwa *

Kakuzu and Hidan walked through the mountain area trying to get back to the base, but Kakuzu kept changing direction. Hidan stopped and grabbed the handle of his scythe aiming it at Kakuzu shouting at him, "Alright bastard tell me what the hell is going on! We've been changing direction so many damn times! We could've been at the base long ago!"

Looking over at Hidan he contemplated whether he should tell him, but seeing as how he'll bitch and moan about all this he decided that he should, "I can sense a foul chakra in this direction. I can recognize who's chakra is like this."

"Who?"

Kakuzu started walking saying, "Whatever they are they have chakra reminiscent of one of our former members Orochimaru." Hidan stopped asking, "Orochimaru? You mean the Sannin from Konoha? Why the hell should we care about him?"

"Like Madara there are few ninjas in this world that I want to badly kill and Orochimaru is on my list. Besides killing him would greatly fund our organization." Kakuzu stopped again looking over his shoulder asking his partner, "Your jutsu would come in handy fighting a man like that."

Hidan smiled and put his scythe back in the holster on his back, "So it is true then, you only really fight those with a high bounty. Greedy teme." Kakuzu confirmed, "It's like killing two birds with one stone. Now let's go." Hidan had no objections about killing Orochimaru, he could care less about the money he just wanted to wipe Orochimaru off the face of the planet.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Iwagakure Medical Wing *

Gaara and Baki walked to the medical wing coming closer to where the hyperactive blonde would be and out of nowhere a chair went flying from inside the medical wing. Gaara ran over and looked in the room and saw Haru standing on the bed with her back to the wall shouting, "Get that thing away from me baa-chan! Haru had managed to wake up on the way to the medical wing with Hinata in the bed next to hers. Hinata was healed enough to be able to stand, but Haru still needed to be healed a bit more. The problem was when Tsunade knew that Haru had a fear of needles and was teasing her with it, "Just sit down you big baby."

Haru hissed at her, "You're doing this on purpose aren't you you old hag!" A tick mark appeared over Tsunade's head and she got in Haru's face shouting, "What did you call me you orange clad idiot!"

"Just calling it like I see it!" Haru shouted back not afraid of her.

"Maybe I shouldn't bother taking care of second place!" Tsunade shouted.

Haru screamed, "What!"

"Hey just calling it like I see it!"

Hinata sat down in the chair and was watching the two blondes go at it thinking, 'Haru where on earth do you get this kind of energy?' She looked at the entrance and saw Gaara standing in the doorway, "Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade heard a sweet voice and looked over to Hinata who pointed to the entrance, when she saw Gaara and Baki she asked, "Something wrong?"

Baki cleared his throat asking, "Tsunade-sama I'd like to ask if you can give Gaara a look over. Normally my village wouldn't mind with it, but since this is the first time Gaara has been extensively hurt." Tsunade sighed and pointed to the foot of Haru's bed, "Fine, fine just sit here Gaara and I'll start." Gaara wordlessly nodded and walked over to Haru's bed and looked at her seeing an unsure look in her eyes, but once he sat down she sat down calming down as well.

"Tsunade-sama do you mind bringing Gaara back to the hotel where we stay at? I must meet with the representatives to ask what they think of the battle." Baki asked. Tsunade agreed to do so since she had to go to the same hotel to drop off Hinata and Haru, once she said she would Baki took his leave and Tsunade said that she was going to go fetch Shizune and that she'll be back soon and left.

The three gennin sat in silence, Hinata could feel the awkward atmosphere and wondered if they would speak. Haru looked over to Gaara out of the corner of her eyes asking him, "So… What now?"

With his emotionless demeanor still gracing his face he glanced over at her asking, "I'll accept."

"Accept? That's the best you can say?" Haru asked him, 'I'll accept'? Not what she was expecting, but what should she expect from a guy who has the same look on his face exactly like Sasuke. Gaara stared at her and he did something unexpected leaning forward he kissed a shocked Haru on the lips and Hinata sat there stunned at what was happening, it was at that moment that Kushina, Tsunade, Kurenai, and Shizune walked in with the leaf gennin wanting to wish her a get well. However the sight before them had them all stuck and motionless.

After Gaara broke away from her he said, "In my village when you show appreciation to someone… It's only respectable that you return it." Gaara got off the bed and walked away feeling better after he passed the crowd that was still shocked he touched his chest thinking, 'It doesn't hurt anymore… It actually feels good.'

Haru sat motionlessly on the bed saying, "Wh-What just happened?"

* Tsuchikage's Office *

Onoki was heading back to his office with his granddaughter to talk about Arashi, but before they even left the arena he was approached by Arashi and another kunoichi. Arashi had asked to speak with him and Kurotsuchi privately, so they went to his office. Onoki sat at his desk with Kurotsuchi standing behind him and Arashi and Hana were standing in front of his desk.

"So boy have you come to a decision?" Onoki asked him. Arashi smiled happily and grabbed Hana's hand saying, "I have Tsuchikage-sama… I'm sorry Kurotsuchi-chan, but I can't."

Onoki asked unnerved, "Are you sure you've thought about this? It's a chance for two long time rivals to finally bury the hatchet and become allies." Arashi asked him still smiling, "Who said that you needed a forced marriage for that? We can still have peace, I don't know how difficult your job is Tsuchikage-sama but still going through with allying yourself with our village will be fruitful. Not only will we end the battles between us, but Konoha can supply you with food, shelters, and other useful things. Onoki please let's end all this senseless fighting and death." He held out his hand to Onoki asking, "In the name of peace… Let's become allies."

There was a long silence, but Arashi kept his hand held out. Kurotsuchi looked at her grandfather wondering what he was thinking. Finally the old man scoffed and lightly batted his hand away saying, "For someone as young as you and who isn't a kage you are wise." He told them, "The door is over there boy. I'll talk to your old man more about this." Arashi and Hana bowed to him thanking him for his time. Before he left Arashi said to Kurotsuchi, "It was great getting to know you. I hope that we can be friends."

Kurotsuchi smirked at him saying, "We can talk about it more over dinner again." Arashi froze and felt a glare on him knowing full well that it was Hana. He nervously scratched the back of his head and held his arm for Hana to take, but she scoffed at him and started to leave first with him following behind her. Onoki looked at his granddaughter asking, "What was that about?"

She let out a small giggle telling her grandfather, "Nothing at all jii-san. Just a little fun."

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Few Hours Later: Akatsuki Hideout *

Naruto was still meditating and suddenly felt a pull in his chest, 'What the hell?' He touched where his one of his hearts was at actually he touched 'his' real heart. Why was it that his heart was doing this and not the other ones? Naruto looked at the dresser drawer and opened it reaching into it and taking out the photo of Hinata starring intently at it. There was a knock at his door and he put her picture away and answered it and saw Kisame on the other side.

"What is it?"

Kisame smiled and said, "Looks like Orochimaru wants a war. We found out that through one of Sasori's contacts that it was Sunagakure that led the assault on our base and that Orochimaru had told them it's location." Naruto opened his door wider asking, "What beef does he have with Akatsuki?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Don't know, but Pain doesn't intend on letting him do as he pleases. In fact on top of capturing the Nine-Tails he wants 'you' be the one to skin that snake bastard once and for all." Naruto leaned on the frame of the door taking this all in analyzing why they wanted him to kill a former Akatsuki, a test maybe? Naruto thought, 'No this can't be another one of Madara's tests. Why would he want me in particular to kill a Sannin when all these other S-Classes can fight him on equal ground?' Thinking more about it he only logical solution was, 'Madara wants to get rid of me. He's using me for Akatsuki, but once my usefulness is done he'll have no more use of my services. He's hoping that we'll kill each other in the fight.'

Naruto crossed his arms telling Kisame, "If no one else can do it then I'll fight him, but with the way I am now I'll be killed easily even with this new eye." Kisame smiled showing his sharpened teeth, "Whoever said it'd be now. Just enjoy these last few moments of peace because soon, very soon you'll never have another time to rest again." Kisame grabbed the door handle and started to shut it, Naruto moved back into his room and watched him leave.

Once the door was closed Kisame walked away and heard a voice in his head.

_"Kisame, how did it go?"_

"Looks like he suspects what's going on, but he's also aware of his own strength and weakness. I gotta say that he is a gifted ninja and great analyst. Pulling one over on him would be difficult and with that eye… Well right now he's playing ball for now."

_"As long as we keep him in line and as long as Kakuzu is on our side he will."_

The link was cut off and Kisame marched to his room to get some sleep.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

* Iwagakure *

Kabuto and his men kept moving back, one of their sensor ninjas had picked up two very large chakra signatures heading their way. Kabuto suggested going around them, but the two seemed to be following them. Trying to stay in this area since the Leaf ninjas would be heading in this direction to go home, right now though he needed to gather information on what happened in the tournament since it was nightfall and was likely over, but he needed to know what ninjas would be grouped together and if they were even equipped to handle them. All that aside for now first they needed to outrun these two high-leveled ninjas. Whoever they are.

**X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X**

(Author's Note Update! August 21st 2011)

Change of plans the next chapter has been changed! There will be a confrontation between Kushina and Kakuzu, but the Minato/Kushina and Onoki conflict will be in like about two or three more chapters. I'm finishing up the chapter so it should be done by August 21st or early 22nd!


	31. The Confrontation

Chapter 31: The Confrontation

Okay I got this chapter out and I'm glad to say the story will really start to pick up! Thanks for your patience!

* * *

* Next Day: Iwagakure *

Kushina and everyone else from the leaf village who came to watch the finals were all ready to leave. Haru was bandaged up the day before, but thanks to Tsunade she was back at 100%. She was standing next to the other gennin raising her arms in the air shouting, "Homeward bound! I can't wait to eat some Ichiraku ramen!" Kushina held her head feeling the effects of the hangover from last night when she drank with Mei. The Mizukage and her entourage already left leaving the Leaf and Sand villages to depart as well.

Onoki stood at the entrance seeing both the Suna ninjas and Leaf ninjas in two separate groups ready to leave. Onoki walked over to Kushina saying, "Good luck traveling back."

She nodded replying, "Hai Tsuchikage-sama and I thank you for your hospitality." The two bowed to each other and he turned to say goodbye to the Sand ninjas as well. Haru said to Sasuke, "We should hang out with Sakura-chan once we get back. We haven't seen her in awhile."

Sasuke nodded, "Sure why not." He was about to ask her something, but he looked in the sand ninjas direction telling Haru, "Hey I think he wants to tell you something."

Haru saw where Sasuke was looking and saw Gaara was standing apart from his group with his sister Temari standing behind him. Haru walked over to them with Sasuke following behind her. When they were close to each other Haru smiled at him saying with a small tint of a blush, "Crazy month huh?"

The red head ninja nodded weakly, "Yeah I suppose it was. Were you serious?" Gaara asked with his arms folded across his chest. Haru stopped smiling for a second then gave him a polite grin, "Of course I was serious! If no one else will be your friend, then let me be the first!"

Temari was looking at Haru smiling to herself. Gaara nodded and walked closer to Haru saying, "I see that you're pained about something, as a friend why don't you tell me what it is?" Haru grin turned to a frown and she looked at her feet. Sasuke frowned as well knowing what just depressed her, Haru shook her head and looked back up at Gaara, "One of my important people left and I intend to bring him back."

Gaara asked, "Naruto Namikaze?"

Haru nodded, "I promised a few people that I would bring him back." Sasuke, Temari, and Gaara saw that she had on a radiating smile now, "I never break a promise."

Gaara touched his chest feeling an ache, but it wasn't painful at all. He held his hand out to her to shake, "Then allow me to help in anyway I can." Haru looked at Gaara's hand and she took it and pulled him forward hugging him, "Friends hug each other Gaara."

Temari and Sasuke were a bit shocked at her sudden movement and so was Gaara, his hand slowly rose up to pat her on the back, "Duly noted."

Baki shouted out, "Temari! Gaara! We're leaving!" Haru broke away from Gaara and he bowed to her leaving, Temari stepped in front of Haru bowing to her, "Thank you for saving my brother." Haru rubbed the back of her head saying, "It's no trouble at all." The two blondes said their farewells and the ninjas of Suna started to leave with Gaara glancing back at Haru.

Haru waved goodbye and she heard a scoff, turning to see Sasuke saying, "'Friends hug each other'? I'm not so sure about that." Haru replied sticking her tongue out at him, "Heh jealous Uchiha?" Sasuke smirked at her and walked away, "Yeah right. Let's go." Haru followed after him back to their group. The Leaf ninjas started to move leaving Iwagakure and finally get home.

Onoki stood by watching the Leaf ninjas leave when one of his ANBU appeared next him bowing down to him, "Tsuchikage-sama!"

"Report." Onoki demanded, "The ANBU nodded, "We've found their location. It seems that they aren't leaving our territory, but instead they are going along the border as if stopping someone from entering." Onoki told him, "Alright tell the ANBU unit to attack I don't care what they are doing we need to end this."

The ANBU obeyed and stood to leave, but when he turned around he saw Han standing before him. Onoki asked in an irritated tone, "What is it Han?"

"Allow me to go as well Tsuchikage-sama." Han asked, Onoki shook his head, "Out of the question. You've yet to complete your original mission and that was to find Roshi." Onoki turned away from him to look at the ANBU, "Kill both of them, don't risk trying to capture them." The ANBU ninja agreed and left to do his mission. Han and Onoki glared at each other with the older ninja asking, "You got something else to say?"

Han shook his head saying, "No sir." and left. Onoki watched him leave sighing and turned to head back to his tower to await the news from his ninjas.

* Two Hours Later: Somewhere in Iwagakure *

Kakuzu and Hidan were still on the trail of the ninjas, but these guys kept either backtracking or trying some tactic to get around them. Hidan looked at the ground finding something, "They went this way." Kakuzu agreed and walked through the forrest. They were finally trapping them.

Kabuto and his men followed him running a different path, but all stopped when something tossed a big ass chunk of land at them. They all ducked out of the way narrowly avoiding getting crushed. They looked ahead and saw two humongous black masses with masks, these things were clearly a full three feet taller than they were. Kabuto adjusted his glasses and said to his team, "Stay alert!"

The sound ninjas all readied themselves for a battle, but Kabuto heard some movement behind them. Turning around he saw two Akatsuki ninjas standing there.

Hidan aimed his scythe at the eleven sound ninjas shouting, "You guys have been a real pain in my ass, but now we finally got you sons of bitches." The only female of the group with red hair shouted at him, "We aren't fucking scared of you two pansies!"

He smirked replying, "That one's gotta mouth on her."

Kabuto moved his hand in front of the girl saying, "Tayuya remain calm. These are Akatsuki ninjas and if we're not careful we could all be killed despite four of you being able to go into your second stages." The Sound Four knew who the Akatsuki were, but not the members and they were all a bit on edge now. Kakuzu looked at each member asking, "Where is that traitorous snake at?"

One of the members had white hair that covered one of his eyes and appeared to have a head growing out of the back of his neck, he shouted, "Watch your mouth! That's lord Orochimaru you are talking about!" Kabuto sweated a bit over the tone they were using knowing full well that two S-Classed criminals were enough to snap them all in half easily. It seemed like an instant when it happened, Kakuzu disappeared and appeared behind one of the jounin and punched his fist straight through his back and out his chest. Everyone except for Kabuto and Hidan missed the speed he moved in order to do that. Kakuzu lifted him in the air tossed making him hit the ground hard. Hidan saw his moment and tossed his scythe at Kabuto, the sound ninja heard the wind slicing and dodged the scythe and avoided the attack.

The biggest member of the Sound Four jumped at Kakuzu punching out at him, however he found his attack was blocked when Kakuzu rose his left hand and blocked the punch barely making him move. Kakuzu replied, "It's useless." moving his fist out of the way, Kakuzu made a single handsign and his right hand darkened almost turning black and he punched the big man in his jaw and sent him flying crashing into a boulder.

One man with six arms shouted out seeing his comrade fall, "Jirobo!" He looked at his two headed partner shouted, "Oi Sakon should we use it?"

Sakon nodded, "We don't have a choice Kidomaru." Both men stood still and Kakuzu watched as strange markings appeared all over their bodies. Kakuzu replied, "Now I see you two have his foul chakra pulsing throughout your bodies." Kidomaru leapt away and spat some gunk from his mouth that instantly hardened taking the form of daggers he landed on cliff side and tossed them at Kakuzu. Unamused he hardened his whole body and knocked the six weapons away easily shocking Kidomaru.

Sakon ran at faster speeds Kakuzu saw his right arm multiply now having three. He leapt back avoiding the attack, Kidomaru saw his chance and spat out a large web net thinking that this would capture him. Kakuzu looked up and saw the web coming his way, his creature with the tiger mask appeared and spat out a stream of fire that burned the webs instantly. Kidomaru cursed under his breath and heard something behind him and immediately turned his head seeing the second creature with a Bull like mask that spat out lightning hitting him and causing him to fall to the ground.

Sakon watched as Kidomaru was taken out, racing over to him he saw that Kidomaru was still moving, but in pain. Looking to where Kakuzu was he was shocked to see that he wasn't there, but was instead standing right next to them. Kakuzu looked down at them seeing a hint of fear in their eyes, "Your tag team is nothing compared to me."

Hidan killed two more sound ninjas easily and avoided. Tayuya had the same markings on her body as her two comrades and pulled out a flute and began to play it, Hidan heard the sound of music and stopped in his tracks feeling stuck. Kabuto watched as Hidan's arms pointed outward as if something holding him, Kabuto remarked, "She's using her Phantom Sound Chains."

Tayuya kept playing hoping that this would be enough to stop the deranged psycho, but what worried her was that he wasn't even panicking. Hidan looked in a random direction saying, "I'm not scared of some third rate genjutsu." Hidan bit his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood causing Tayuya to stop playing and the genjutsu to end, Hidan smiled and whipped his scythe around trying to cut them both down, but they avoided it. Hidan was suddenly stabbed from behind by the other three Sound nins. Tayuya saw that he was stabbed by some kunai and shouted, "Ha you lose!"

Hidan pulled on the metal cable that was attached to his scythe and yanked it back his way and ducked watching as it decapitated one of the ninjas, placing both hands on the ground he lifted his lower half up and kicked one of them in the face and lifted one hand up to yank on the cable again. The scythe shot back and cut the other ninjas head off, doing a few acrobatic moves Hidan grabbed the handle of his scythe and finally cut down the ninja he just kicked. Kabuto and Tayuya watched in horror as the three ninjas were killed so easily and yet he stood there still alive, "Hey bitches! You got anything else to try and kill me?"

The area was suddenly rocked by an explosion making Hidan look in the direction and seeing Kakuzu and his two creatures land by him. Kabuto also saw Sakon jump down next to him carrying Jirobo and a second ninja who looked dead on like Sakon land close by carrying Kidomaru, Kabuto knew that the second one was Ukon the twin brother of Sakon.

They all looked up at the top of the cliff seeing about twenty Iwa ninjas all lined up, Kabuto cursed, "This is just great."

The leading Iwa ninja shouted, "Kill the Akatsuki and the invading Sound ninjas!" Hidan felt a chill run up his body saying, "More blood to spill!"

Kakuzu told him, "We can't drag this out. Let's finish this quickly." Hidan agreed and dropped into a battle stance as did Kakuzu. Everyone was on edge, but a sudden voice made them all turn their heads.

"Kakuzu!"

The two Akatsuki ninjas, the Sound ninjas, and the Iwa ninjas looked to the other side and saw Kushina, Tsunade, Kakashi, Shizune, Arashi, Hana, Itachi, and some ninken watching from a distance.

Kushina ignored the Iwa ninjas and the Sound ninjas and was starring at Kakuzu the two locking eyes. Hidan stared at Kakashi shouting, "I've been waiting for a rematch with you!" He was about to charge, but Kakuzu wrapped his arm around his neck whispering, "We're not fighting we're running."

Hidan whispered, "What? Why?" Kakuzu explained, "Because remember our little tussle with the Leaf nins? We were not using our real bodies then so there were no real problems, but now even at full strength we've lost the element of surprise and despite what you may think this is a two vs one vs one battle." Hidan gritted his teeth and agreed with his partner.

Kabuto noticed how everyone's attention wasn't on them and made some subtle handsigns for the team to run. He tilted his head slightly to allow him to barely see the reflection in his glasses of his team nodding their heads in agreement. Tayuya brought her flute to her lips alarming the Iwa nins who started to toss kunais and shurikens at the group. Kabuto pulled out two curved hand blades and knocked away as many of the flying objects as possible. Sakon and Udon ran carrying their comrades on their shoulders and Tayuya started to use her sound jutsu to immobilize everyone in the area.

Everyone who wasn't prepared were ensnared in the genjutsu, but those good enough were able to dispel the genjutsu quickly. Kakuzu saw his moment and ordered his masks to open fire at the cliff walls, ground, and the other ninjas kicking up as much dust as possible and to try and take out as many ninjas as possible. Kakashi acted quickly and moved in front of the group and so did Itachi, both did the same handsigns and slammed their hands on the ground shouting, "Earth Style: Earth Style Wall!" a thick wall of earth shot up shielding them from the attack.

They saw their moment and dashed in the opposite direction running as quickly as possible, Kakuzu looked back and saw a golden blur shoot out immediately recognizing him as Arashi, but he was also followed by Kushina, and Tsunade. Kakuzu ripped his cloak off and let it fall back watching it go toward Arashi, when it got close Kakuzu thought to himself, 'Got you.' and made the 'Ram' seal.

Arashi saw at the last minute the cloak glow and explode. Kushina saw it for a second that her son escaped using her husband's jutsu most likely he placed a seal on Hana for emergencies, the two kunoichi continued to follow after the two ninjas. Kakuzu merged his two masks back with his body and had them fire a few shots from his back at the blonde and red head. They did their best to avoid the attacks chasing them dangerously close to the border connecting Iwagakure and Amegakure and they needed to catch them before they crossed the border.

Arashi appeared next to Hana who was worried asking him, "You okay?" He nodded, "I'm fine I got out just in time." He got up to move, but Shizune stopped him saying, "Wait we can't go."

Before he could ask why he looked up and saw a few Iwa ninjas standing atop the wall made by Kakashi and Itachi.

* An Hour Later: Border *

Kakuzu and Hidan ran on the floor with the older ninja knocking some trees to create a few obstacles for their pursuers. Hidan shouted, "I see the border!" Kakuzu looked up front seeing a post that labeled ahead was Amegakure. Kakuzu's tiger mask opened it's mouth spraying a strong enough flame to propel him forward he reached out and grabbed Hidan by his arm dragging him along with him landing over the post. They stopped running and stood and watched.

Kushina and Tsunade burst from the tree line and stopped across from them still on Iwa's side. Kakuzu saw the irritated look in Kushina's eyes, "I was right… You guys didn't take the pathway through Amegakure, but through Kusagakure. If you step into Ame then you'd be trespassing." Though they didn't answer their silence was proof enough that he was right. Hidan told Kakuzu, "Let's get the fuck out of here. We need to get back to the base and it's a long ass travel." Agreeing with his partner they both turned their backs to two women walking away.

"Hold it!"

They stopped and looked back seeing that Kushina was dangerously close to crossing the border. Kakuzu looked in her eyes seeing the same kind as in Naruto when enraged, "What do you want?"

Kushina gripped her hands into tightened fists demanding, "Where is my son?"

"Hah! You think that we're just gonna tell you! You are fucking dumber than I thought!" Hidan shouted at her. Hidan turned away first and started walking away, Kakuzu remained still for a second asking her, "What would you do if you got him back?"

She calmed down a bit replying, "Keep him safe… That's what any mother would do for her child." Kakuzu immediately replied, "He doesn't want to be kept safe, he wants to fight."

"That's what you made him into!" She screamed, Tsunade grabbed Kushina's arm to stop her from possibly advancing. Kakuzu simply replied, "If you have such a bond with him then sure enough your love would've kept him from leaving." That simple truth pained her deeply, Kakuzu looked to where Hidan was seeing him still walking away. He was about to leave as well, but Kushina's voice stopped him again.

"I trust my kids."

He glanced at her seeing not rage, but sadness instead. "No matter what Naruto does, no matter what he turns into… He's still my baby." He watched her fall to her knees with Tsunade still holding onto her, "Just answer me one more question…" Kushina looked up at him seeing him still standing their with his back facing her and looking over his shoulders, "How exactly did my son come into your possession?"

Tsunade glared at him saying in a threatening tone, "You owe this family that much… If you're not completely heartless." Kakuzu looked at Tsunade and Kushina noting seeing images of people long gone from this world, brief flashes of the past, "You two are just like them."

Tsunade was confused, but Kakuzu told them, "That bastard Hashirama and his wife Mito." He pointed to Tsunade, "You have that same look in his eyes as he does and she looks exactly like Mito and acts like her." He faced them completely crossing his arms, "I acquired Naruto through a mission… I was hired to deliver the child with the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox to my client, but instead two buffoons grabbed the wrong infant and I was unbeknownst to my knowledge was carrying the wrong one."

Kushina stood up telling him, "They invaded when the Nine-Tails was just sealed?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Possibly, they probably thought that the child would be immediately taken to the hospital only given a small description of what they were looking for. Their timing was off."

Tsunade asked, "Who was it that ordered this?" Kakuzu smiled underneath his mask answering her question, "You just left his village."

Both Tsunade and Kushina's eyes widened knowing who he was talking about, "That's right. Onoki hired me as a middle man to deliver the Jinchuriki, but I wasn't aware of who the child was nor was I aware of the signs that point to a Jinchuriki. Onoki wasn't pleased and attempted to get rid of the both of us to cover up an embarrassment of a mission. I escaped with the boy and decided that keeping him close by would be in my favor should Onoki release information about me holding the child of the Yondaime Hokage hostage."

"Why didn't you just return him?" Kushina said with venom lacing her voice. Kakuzu simply answered, "No point… Hatred is what I would've seen had I just walked into the village saying 'I have the baby of the Yondaime Hokage so please spare me'. Either I would've been killed, locked up, or returned to Takigakure to face a later execution. No matter what you say now it'll always be different than what would've actually happened in the past."

Kushina told him, "We would've listened."

"So you say now." Kakuzu quickly said, he turned his back once again to them, "You can hate me all you want for your son, but he chose to come to me rather than stay. Ninjas must always abide by their way of life, he's simply doing what his ninja way is telling him and if you must hate anyone… Hate the man you call the Sandaime Tsuchikage." Kakuzu walked off ignoring Kushina's words of telling him to wait.

As he walked off he thought of Naruto and the reason why he wouldn't get rid of his original heart and asked for only one of the byakugans instead of both, 'Are they the reason why you refuse to dispose of your real heart and eye?' He thought about it more, but something seemed off about when he talked to her, it never occurred to him before because it was in the past, "How did Onoki know that the Kyuubi would be sealed that day?"

Kushina and Tsunade watched him shrink into the distance until he disappeared from sight. Tsunade tugged on Kushina's arm telling her, "We have to go, we left the others behind and we need to meet up with them." With nothing else to do they left to return to the area where they left their team. It took them a bit longer to get back to the group, but when they did get back they saw the their group were in the center of a circle of Iwa ninjas who were watching them.

Tsunade walked over to them asking the Iwa ninjas, "What happened to the rest of you?" The Iwa leader responded, "I sent the rest to go chase after the Sound ninjas. Did you catch the two Akatsuki ninjas?"

She shook her head, "They got away passing through the border to Amegakure." The Iwa nin sighed saying, "The Tsuchikage is not going to be pleased about this."

Kushina walked up to him her tone low, "Speaking of your Tsuchikage, I want to speak with him." The Iwa nin shook his head, "Afraid that is not possible. From the message I received from the village was that all the ninjas were to return to their villages as of noon and since it is passed noon and you've yet to go home in actuality you're trespassing on Iwa soil."

Arashi walked over to his mom putting a hand on her shoulder, "Kaa-san he is right. What ever you need to say to him we have to make it a diplomatic mission. Now we have to go we left the other team alone and we need to get to them." Kushina turned away and started walking with the others following her, Arashi took a moment and told the Iwa ninjas, "We'll be leaving now we just need to meet up with our gennin and their senseis." The Iwa ninja understood and watched him go.

"Okay men let's go find our unit that chased after those Sound ninjas!"

Meanwhile the other group sat silently in a cave waiting for the other half of their team. Neji, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru were standing close to the entrance keeping an eyes, noses, and bugs on alert. Asuma and Guy were more outside the cave ready to ambush anyone who they didn't know, Neji reacted first saying, "It's Kushina-sama and the others."

Everyone stood and walked to the entrance seeing Kushina along with the others she took with her. Guy and Asuma appeared after knowing that they were allies approaching, Haru walked up to her mother asking in an excited and angry tone, "So what happened and why didn't you take me?"

Kushina faked a smile and put her hand on top of Haru's head, "It wasn't nothing kaa-san couldn't handle…" Haru and Arashi saw the fake smile and were worried. Neither Kushina nor Tsunade said what happened after they chased down Kakuzu and Hidan, so they were worried about what could've happened. Kakashi told the group, "Right now let's worry about getting back to our village. We've over extended our stay and we still need to pass through Kusagakure. I suggest we get a move on."

All the other jounin agreed and went back in the cave to gather their packs, Haru stayed looking at her mother wondering what is wrong with her. Hana walked up to Haru saying kindly, "Come on Haru let's get your things." Haru was guided way from Kushina, but the little blonde wanted to stay to ask her mother what was wrong. Everyone except Kushina and Arashi walked in as he was worried about his mother as well.

"Kaa-san… What's wrong?" he asked her. Kushina whipped away a tear that almost fell and told him, "You'll find out when your father finds out. I only want to say it once." Arashi knew that he'd find out soon and he didn't want to press the situation if she didn't want to say what it was. He put his arm around her shoulder guiding her into the cave. Everyone thought that it was best that they run the rest of the way to get home. Before they just walked to Iwa which took a few days to do, but now they wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

* * *

* Dusk: Konoha Main Gate *

Minato had received word that his ninjas were on the return trip back, so he was waiting at the front gates of Konoha with the families and friends of the participates. He looked out at the road and saw a large group running in their direction and one Hyuuga had his byakugan activated shouting, "It's them!"

Haru was running full speed and passed the gates into Konoha leaping to her father screaming, "We're back!" Minato held his arms out catching his daughter and holding her tight. Minato said to her, "I heard about what happened. You did good though Haru-chan." He let her go and saw the group had joined up with everyone else and that they were all talking. Amongst the crowd he saw his wife walk over without her usual carefree smile. When she approached he put Haru down and held his arms out and she gladly walked into his embrace. He could hear the other ninjas conversing with Kushina's team and the returning gennins asking how the matches went.

When he held her out at arms length giving her a comforting smile he asks, "You're not your usual happy self… What happened?" Kushina looked away from her husband whispering, "It's a secret that can only be discussed in your office." He understood that she was serious about this and agreed. Before he did however he rose his hand to get everyone's attention and shouted, "Our gennin fought bravely in Iwagakure! Many of them have proven themselves to be a great value to our village! Let us hear it for them!"

Everyone who was there started to chant and cheer for the gennin who looked a bit embarrassed by all the attention. Ino, Shino, and Neji left with their clans to hold a celebration. Before Hiashi left he said congratulations to his daughter for making it to the semi-finals and that again he was proud of how strong a kunoichi she's become. Minato witnessed this kindness and was happy that he was finally helping his daughter. Arashi, Hana, and Hinata walked over to Minato, Kushina, and Haru watching as the rest of the families left.

A few ninjas stayed behind to talk with Haru about making it to the finals. Sakura said to Haru, "Now everything will go back to normal."

Minato asked, "Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun, Itachi-san, and of course you Kakashi you're all welcome to come and have dinner with us in celebration." Sakura bowed to the Hokage replying, "Arigatou Hokage-sama. Isn't that nice Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke looked uninterested, but none the less nodded. Itachi also bowed to the Hokage, "Arigatou for inviting my brother and myself to dine with your family." Kakashi thanked him as well. Minato told everyone, "Well head on over to the mansion and Kushina and myself will see you guys shortly."

Haru walked over to her mother asking, "Kaa-san what will you be cooking?" Kushina thought about it and replied, "Don't really know, but I'll whip something special up when I get back." Haru faced everyone who was still there shouting, "Okay let's head out everyone!" Everyone started to leave except for Arashi, Hana noticed that he didn't start walking and was going to stay with him. She ushered her ninken to follow Haru to the mansion and that she'd meet up with them later, after everyone left she grabbed onto Arashi's arm smiling up at him.

Arashi felt her hold onto him and he smiled. Minato saw his son and Hana still standing there, "You two want to hear what she has to say as well don't you?" Arashi was serious when he said to his father, "Hai tou-san."

Kushina told Minato, "I told him that he'll find out when you find out. No harm in it." He agreed and they left to the Hokage's tower to talk about what happened.

* Twenty Minutes Later: Hokage's Tower *

Minato sat at his desk and his wife had explained the whole encounter with Kakuzu and what he said. Minato looked very calm at the moment, but inside he was very upset indeed. Arashi on the other hand sat at the couch gripping the arm of it and gritting his teeth, Hana was holding onto him trying to calm him down. Kushina was right by Minato continuing, "Do you think he was telling the truth… I let my emotions get the better of me so I might've boughten into what ever lie he was spewing."

There was a moment of silence before he spoke, "No… if what we were told about him is true, then he'd have no reason to lie to us about the abduction. If Konoha and Iwa went to war over this matter then he'd have nothing to gain from it especially if he's with Akatsuki." He spun around in his chair looking out the window, "I'm confused on a few subjects regarding Onoki's mission to kidnap Haru and the Kyuubi."

Arashi calmed down asking his father, "Like what?" Minato looked at his son telling both him and Hana, "What I have to say is confidential and not many in any of the ninja villages know this… A female jinchuriki is at her weakest when giving birth."

"So Kushina-sama that is how the demon got out all those years ago?" Hana asked her. Kushina shook her head, "No Hana-chan… The Kyuubi was ripped from me before Haru and Naruto were even born." Hana was shocked that something like that happened, but then she caught on, "Wait you said 'ripped'. Does that mean someone tried taking it from you?"

Kushina nodded weakly, "Yes… We were planning on doing the ritual outside the village, but we were found out and it was taken from me. I thought I would've lost both my babies, but…" She smiled, "I pulled through for them. When it was taken away Minato got us out of there and took us back to Konoha, but the Kyuubi was summoned outside the gates."

Minato continued, "From there our forces tried their best to hold the beast back it was only to buy us some time. Kushina wasn't in the best health to have the Kyuubi resealed inside of her, so it was decided that it needed a new vessel." He stood up and walked over to Kushina placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "If what Kakuzu said was true then the two sent to kidnap Haru appeared sometime after it was already sealed. Then it was the timing of the capture that was off, but that doesn't explain how they exactly knew."

"Tou-san… What about Madara? He was the one to take the Kyuubi from Kaa-san." Arashi said to him. Minato looked at his oldest child and said, "That is a very high possibility. Madara is one of four ninjas that were able to completely control a biju. I don't know what was planned, but I intend to find out." Minato looked at his wife telling her, "I'll figure this all out. I promise."

Kushina smiled up at her husband and hugged him tightly, "Come on everyone let's go… We'll talk more about this tomorrow. For now there is a little blonde girl who is dying for some homemade ramen no doubt." Everyone perked up a bit and left his office to get the dinner ready they all deserved a well cooked dinner.

* * *

* Nightfall: Somewhere in Tea Country *

Jiraiya sat inside a tea house by himself after he was suddenly called by one of his contacts that they had some information on Akatsuki. So far he had been waiting a little over an hour at this place that he was asked to come too. An elderly woman walked over with a tray with his cup of tea setting it on his table, he took the cup and took a quick sip. The moment he took a sip he sensed that someone was sitting at the table behind him.

"You're late." Jiraiya said looking straight ahead. The one sitting behind him spoke and he could tell that it was a women without turning around, "Sorry Jiraiya-sama, but things got complicated." She slickly passed her hand over his shoulder and dropped a small capsule in his lap whispering, "This was everything I could get on the Akatsuki. Try not to let all this out into the public all at once this is sensitive information that could get my 'friends' into some trouble."

Jiraiya left the capsule there and took another sip of his tea whispering back, "When have I ever caused any trouble for you or your friends? This information is safe with me… Also do you have anything about the number one talk right now?"

"You mean the Yondaime Hokage's son?" she responded. Jiraiya couldn't see her since his back was to him, but he could tell that she was thinking, "I found out that he's taken out some rogue ninjas and collecting the bounties at a checkpoint outside of Fire Country. As far as that I'm not sure about his movements."

Jiraiya sighed, "Thought so. Thanks you'll get your payment as promised. Stay safe." Jiraiya downed the rest of his tea and dropped a few coins on the table and took the capsule and put it in his pocket, then walked out of the tea house and back to Konoha. The woman had to stay a bit longer so it didn't look as suspicious that she was meeting someone.

The Sannin walked down the street letting a small toad the size of a baseball crawl out from under his sleeve. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the capsule for the toad to swallow it, "Take it to Minato and tell him that it's about the Akatsuki." The small toad put it's hands together and disappeared in a puff of smoke, after the toad was gone Jiraiya said to himself, "Now to get back home to start do Haru's new seal." He started his trek back to Konoha to help with transforming the seal and to tell her about the training.

* * *

* Akatsuki Hideout *

Naruto was training with Kisame trying to get a hang of getting better at using the Nuibari. So far Kisame wasn't going easy on him at all and was tossing him all over the place, leaving Naruto laying on the floor with his clothes torn up from the hours of training with the shark nin. Kisame was resting his sword over his shoulder smiling, "You're doing good kid. You certainly grasp the handling of what I am teaching you. Next we'll work on a few water jutsu."

Weakly Naruto nodded understanding what Kisame had just told him. A noise caught their attention and both saw Kakuzu and Hidan stroll inside the training area and stopped a few feet away. Kisame smirked at the two asking, "I heard that you two had a very trying mission."

Hidan responded, "Feh nothing we couldn't handle." Kakuzu stood over Naruto seeing the boy stare back up at him. Naruto forced himself to stand up straight looking at Kakuzu, "You've looked better Naruto…"

"This is nothing. I can take the damage." Naruto said in response. Hidan walked away waving goodbye, "This is where I go and rest. Good luck training the brat." Once he was gone Kakuzu asked Kisame, "How much altogether did you make?"

Kisame told him, "We made enough. He's the one doing the catching." he pointed to Naruto. Kakuzu looked at Naruto and then back to Kisame, "Any news from anyone?"

"Only that Akatsuki is going underground and that the two of us are tasked with training Naruto."

Kakuzu nodded and patted Naruto on his shoulder, "We'll start in a few days. For now I need to rest." Before Kakuzu could walk away Naruto told him, "I was thinking…"

"About?" Kakuzu asked stopping. Naruto pulled out a scroll and handed it to him, "I need these people. Rather I need their hearts." Kakuzu took the scroll and looked over the people written on it, "I've heard about a few of these ninjas." He glanced at Naruto asking, "You plan on fighting them yourself?"

"If need be, then I will." Naruto said to him. Kisame grinned again telling Kakuzu, "This kid has guts. I'll take him while you figure out his training method. Sound good to you?"

Kakuzu looked at Kisame, "He'll be your actual partner in a few years so you should take him. Good luck Naruto." Kakuzu handed the scroll back to Naruto and left. Naruto asked Kisame, "Which one should we go after first?"

Kisame looked at the scroll and pointed, "We'll go after this one first." Naruto agreed, "Fine. When shall we go?"

"Now." Kisame said, "Get dressed in better clothes and we'll leave."

Naruto did as he was told and left to get dressed. Kisame stood alone, but felt that same presence he's come to recognize, "Something you need Madara?"

Madara stood directly behind Kisame telling him, "Meeting with Kakuzu. Apparently he has something he wishes to discuss with me. We're you off to?"

"Taking the kid for some training as per orders." Kisame told Madara. The older ninja looked in the direction where Naruto had just left out of, "I see… Remember to keep him under watch. I'll be going into seclusion for three years, so Pain will be running things while I'll be away. Know that Kisame that your first mission in three years will be the capture of the Kyuubi."

"Got it. We can handle it." Kisame said calmly. After they spoke Madara walked away to go talk with Kakuzu and Kisame walked to the outside to wait for Naruto.

* * *

* Midnight: Konoha: Hokage Mansion *

Haru, Hinata, and Sakura were all asleep in Haru's room after the large dinner they've had, Itachi, Sasuke, and Kakashi left after the dinner. Haru woke back up and stared at the ceiling and quietly climbed out of bed and left the her room silently closing the door. She walked downstairs to get something to drink, once she got downstairs she saw Hana was in the kitchen.

"Haru-chan? Couldn't sleep?" Hana asked politely. Haru nodded, "Tired just can't stay asleep. You?"

"Haven't gone to sleep yet. I've just been laying there." Hana told her. Haru walked over and grabbed a glass cup and got some fresh water from the fridge, "Hana-chan can I ask you something?" Haru asked as she poured her water.

Hana sat down at the table close by, "You know you can ask me anything." Haru sat down with her and put her glass of water down. Hana could tell that she was nervous about asking her question since she was looking down at her glass instead of drinking it. Haru took a deep breath, "I'm not sure about something."

The older kunoichi tilted her head to the side, "About?"

"Boys." Haru said quietly, thanks to her training Hana could hear the low word she said, "Boys? Are we talking about Gaara-kun?" Hana teased. Haru blushed and touched her lips, "He's the one to give me my first real kiss. When we fought alongside each other before the finals he was distant and cold, but during the battle… I don't know how to explain it, but he felt… warmer."

Hana smiled while nodding, "I see. What about Sasuke-kun? How do you feel around him?"

Haru's blush lightened, "Not sure… When he helped me fight Naruto-nii he wasn't like he was when his family died. He said that he'd help me get Naruto-nii back. I think Sasuke-kun could be just my friend." Hana slid the glass of water closer to Haru, "Drink."

Haru took the glass of water and drank it, after she was done Haru said, "Hana-chan what should I do?"

Hana pretended to think and said, "Tell Gaara-kun how you feel. That's the best advice I could offer." Haru sighed, "I knew you were going to say that." she smiled anyway and stood up, "Thank you Hana-chan."

"Anytime Haru-chan." Hana watched her walk away leaving her alone in the kitchen, "Did you hear that Arashi?"

Arashi appeared from around the corner and walked behind Hana, "Yes I did… Haru likes Gaara a lot it seems. She didn't even mention Itachi at all." He took her hand asking, "Thank you for giving her advice."

"I love that girl as if she was my own sister."

Arashi wrapped his arms around her, "Come on let's go back to bed." Hana nodded and followed him back up to their room.

* * *

* Morning: Land of Snow *

Naruto and Kisame were trekking through shin deep worth of snow, Kisame had asked Zetsu for help in terms of getting them inside the Snow Country's border and that they would take it from there, so far this blizzard was slowing them down, but the Kiri ninja said that they needed to fight through it. Kisame asked Naruto, "So how did you find out about this guy?"

His arm was held out to shield his left eye from the freezing winds his other eye was being used to look through the storm, "When one lives with a criminal one tends to collect his own source of informants. That's how I'd survive when ever I was left alone for awhile. He taught me that." Kisame was looking back at Naruto and decided to ask, "How do you think I'd fair in a fight against these Snow ninjas?"

"You have the advantage. Based off of that we are surrounded by frozen water and there is no doubt in my mind that you have an arsenal of water jutsu." Naruto said.

Kisame grinned asking him, "This guy Enka why do you want him specifically?" Naruto responded, "You already know that I want his heart. Well let's just say he has an ability that would help me in my fight against Haru." Naruto suddenly stopped and asked, "Theres a small village up ahead."

"Well we'll camp out there and gather some information on Enka. We can wait out this blizzard. Sound good?"

Naruto agreed and Kisame followed Naruto through the storm and into the village.

* * *

*A/N*

Short chapter I know, but I'm going to make up for it in the next chapter which is called 'The Hunted Ninjas'. This one probably won't be out until next month, but I'll be working ASAP. Thank you for reading!


	32. Hunted Ninjas

Chapter 32: Hunted Ninjas

We're getting closer to the Three Year Time skip one more chapter to go before then.

* * *

* Morning: Konohagakure: Hokage Mansion *

Minato, Kushina, and Arashi sat in the living room waiting for Haru and Hinata to come down so they could tell them what they found out yesterday. Hana had went home earlier to go help her mother with some new pups and she decided to take Sakura with her. Leaving them alone, Minato wanted to tell them as soon as possible so that they won't be left in the dark.

They heard some footsteps come down the stairs and saw both girls were smiling talking to each other about what they should do since they weren't given any assignments today. Kushina called out, "Girls can you come into the living room please?"

Hinata and Haru stopped in their tracks and looked around the corner seeing the three sitting down in the chairs waiting for them. They entered the living room a bit nervous since all three of them looked serious, standing in the center Kushina said in a sweet tone seeing how uncomfortable the girls were, "Sit you two are not in any trouble." After she said that they sat on the two seater couch together.

Haru asked, "Kaa-san what's this about?" Hinata remained silent she's never seen them this quiet before usually this family was all smiles and laughter, but now they were sad and serious. Arashi cleared his throat looking at them, "Tou-san has something he wants you two to know… It's about what happened twelve years ago, about why Naruto was taken."

Hinata and Haru were surprised and they faced Minato who was leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his fingers intertwined so he could lay his chin down. He sighed and started, "What I'm going to tell you two must never leave this home until I say otherwise. Understand?" They quickly nodded and inched a bit forward eager to know. Kushina put her hand on Minato's shoulder to relax him and she felt the tension in his body leave and he relaxed more. He straightened himself out saying, "You two must know."

The Hokage told them what they were told… about the Tsuchikage's hand in all of this and their theories on why.

* * *

* Land of Snow: 3:00p.m. *

Naruto was circling around the area with the wind blowing fiercely around the area, he felt another tremor shake knowing that Kisame was battling fiercely. He saw and opening and ran in seeing snow shoot everywhere thank God he has the byakugan otherwise he wouldn't be able to fight properly. Naruto had Nuibari in his right hand and he slashed out at a figure in the blizzard, the moment he hit the person's body seemed to just shift until it disappeared. Kisame charged and saw Naruto, who quickly pointed to a section, "He's there!"

Kisame tossed Samehada in the air and did some handsigns, "Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" the snow shifted and seemed to melt and turn to water. Naruto and Kisame charged chakra to their feet and they rode the gigantic waves that began to form, Kisame held his hand in the air and caught Samehada. Naruto put the handle of Nuibari in his mouth and did a vast number of handsigns as they surfed to their opponent. Kisame heard Samehada make some noise and said, "There you are you bastard!"

After Naruto was done he shouted, "Wind Style: Gentle Push!" He shot his palm out and a tunnel of wind blasted out clearing out Mother Nature's wind and frozen ice storm for a moment, also letting them see who they were fighting. It was a man in his thirties he was wearing a gray helmet that covered his ears and his headband was implanted in it, a parka like jacket, and some snow pants to survive this weather. You couldn't see his face since it was covered by a mask similar to Kakashi.

He looked up seeing the wave and he brought his hands together and his body shifted and he disappeared. Naruto grabbed his sword from his mouth and spun around and blocked a kunai that was about to come down on his head and the man holding it was very surprised. Kisame smiled shouting, "We got you now!"

Kisame did some necessary handsigns and then aimed his hand at the two shouting, "Water Prison Jutsu!" the wave they rode on shifted and surrounded both Naruto and their prey. Desperate to escape he let go of the kunai, but the moment he did Naruto aimed his hand at him letting his thread fly out capturing his hands stopping him. The water encased the two and Kisame trapped them both. Kisame saw that both Naruto and Enka the ninja Naruto wanted movements were slowing. They were loosing air and it was almost time for Kisame to finish this. He saw his moment and dispelled the jutsu and quickly punched his fist through the water hitting Enka in his jaw with extreme force making him fly into a boulder that was partially covered in snow.

Naruto was on his hands and knees catching his breath. Kisame strolled over to Naruto grinning like he always did, "Looks like I have to teach you to breathe underwater next."

"Maybe we should've done that first." Naruto responded. He stood up straight and they both walked over to the downed Enka standing above him, Kisame asked, "I'm intrigued to see how this'll work out." Naruto rolled him over so he was on his back and grabbed his shoulders to sit him up, "Same here. I've never taken the actual heart from someone he just gave me one as a handout." His Akatsuki cloak slowly fell off his shoulders and some stitchings that looked to be keeping his chest closed shut opened up. Threads shot out of Naruto's chest and imbedded into Enka's body and both of them saw the man's eyes shoot open and he began screaming in pain.

Naruto had the rest of his thread wrap around Enka to keep him from moving while he extracted the heart. Kisame watched as the threads ripped through the clothing and skin, Enka only laid there and finally there was crunching and slashing sound and out of his chest Kisame could see the heart wrapped up in threads. Naruto let go of Enka watching him fall to the floor lifeless and the threads came off as well and wrapped up around the heart. Naruto had the threads recede back into his body and close up.

Kisame picked up Enka telling Naruto, "Not only did we get what we came for, but we also got us a ninja with a high bounty on his head." Naruto stood up putting his cloak asking Kisame, "Do we know where the checkpoint is?"

He tossed Enka's dead body over his shoulder, "I'm not sure, but we could find out." Kisame started walking back to the village they ran into Enka at and he was going to try and find out where a checkpoint could possibly be at. Naruto didn't follow right away and instead looked at his hands feeling a new source of stronger chakra flow into his body. Now all he needs to do is bring it out. He heard Kisame shout, "Come on Naruto we gotta get this guy there otherwise the body will be useless."

Agreeing Naruto followed Kisame.

* * *

* Konohagakure: Hokage Tower *

Minato just finished writing up a request to meet up with Onoki in a neutral area to discuss what happened twelve years ago. An ANBU ninja was in the room with him and had put the cryptic message in his pouch, "I'll get this delivered as quickly as possible Hokage-sama." He bowed and left the room. Minato watched the ninja leave and he glanced down to his desk seeing the picture of him and his whole family shortly after Naruto appeared in Konoha. Haru and Hinata didn't take the news so well about Naruto originally being kidnapped by the Tsuchikage, but he told them that so far they didn't have much to go on and that he would speak to him as quickly as possible.s

Maybe talking with Onoki he'd figure all these pieces out and if there is a connection between Madara and Naruto. Minato saw a summoning jutsu seal appear on his desk along with a puff of smoke, lightly waving the smoke away he saw Gamakichi appear on the desk which greatly surprised him, "Gamakichi-san? What are you doing here?" Minato saw that the small toad had a red and orange seal tied on his back.

"Hokage-sama… I know that I've been secretive about Naruto's whereabouts, but it's only because he's my friend." Gamakichi told him, he took the scroll off his back and placed it in front of him, "Naruto wanted you to have this…"

Minato grabbed the scroll and examined it, normally you would send these in to be examined to be sure that there wouldn't be any traps set… but this was Naruto... his son. He opened the scroll slowly and read the content inside, it was Naruto's handwriting alright there was no mistaking it. Rolling the scroll back up he told Gamakichi, "Arigatou… Now go before Jiraiya gets here."

Gamakichi saluted him and disappeared. Minato got out of his chair and opened up the window for when Jiraiya returns from his information gathering mission.

* * *

* Two Days Later: Land of Water *

A female kunoichi was hiding behind some trees looking around, peeking out from behind the tree she saw her village's most wanted ninja. Her outfit consisted of gray stripped pants, black leg warmers that went around her sandals, a blue a short kimono top, light green colored eyes, and long auburn colored hair. In her hand was a shattered ANBU mask, she thought to herself, 'Captain… To think he was brought down that easily. What is Kisame doing here and with-'

Her thoughts were cut short when she heard something from above, looking up she saw Naruto come down to her wielding the Nuibari in his right hand. She pulled out a kunai and blocked the sword, but she saw her kunai crack and quickly moved out of the way ditching the destroyed kunai. She brought her hands together doing some handsigns, "Lava Style: Lava Globs!" She started spitting out lava balls at Naruto.

Naruto dodged as many as he could, but one came close.

"Water Style: High Pressured Water Cannon!" Kisame appeared out of nowhere and shot a large water bomb that hit the lava attack knocking it away. Naruto saw that she was distracted and charged a lot of chakra into his sword extending the reach of the blade, swinging the blade horizontally, Kisame leapt into the air avoiding the attack that would've sliced his knees clean off.

The Kiri ninja saw just in time how high off the ground the jutsu was by looking at the damage it was doing to the trees it was cutting down and quickly dropped down close to the ground and avoided the attack. Naruto whispered, "It's over." The ground opened up beneath her and she saw a spiraling blue orb as it was driven into her stomach, she let out a pained scream as she was shot into the air. Naruto jumped into the air until he was above her and swung with the Nuibari in his right hand saying, "Gracing Slash!"

Naruto swung his sword down onto her slashing her down from her right shoulder to the left side of her hip wind erupted from the sword sending her crashing down to the ankle high water below. Naruto landed atop the water's surface seeing the dead Kiri ninja in the water and it turning blood red, he heard two separate footsteps and looked with his byakugan seeing his clone that was hiding underground and Kisame walk over. Looking back to the dead kunoichi he quickly took off his cloak and started the process of taking out her heart. As Kisame watched he sat down by a rock that was sticking out of the water, while he extracted the heart Naruto asked Kisame, "I remember seeing you when Akatsuki first came to Kakuzu to join up, was it Madara who requested him?"

Kisame was still smiling and didn't respond, Naruto peeked over his shoulder saying to Kisame, "You always expect me to tell you what I am thinking or what I plan to do at almost every turn and yet you won't even answer me that simple question?" Naruto just saw Kisame continue to grin and just said, "Forget it."

Before Naruto finished removing her heart Kisame told Naruto, "We have been looking for him for a long time. I don't know if you're aware, but before the formation of the ninja villages Madara and Kakuzu had fought each other. Of course this was before Kakuzu was defeated by the Shodaime Hokage." The Kiri nin heard some crunching sounds after hearing it before he could guess that Naruto was done, "Madara searched for awhile on where to find Kakuzu, he knows how strong Kakuzu really is which is why he wanted us to find him."

Naruto put his cloak back on and turned to look at Kisame, "So was I just the tag along?"

Standing up Kisame straightened out his cloak, "No… you were the surprise." He walked over to Naruto asking, "Anything else?"

Naruto shook his head, "Not now, but later I will.", Kisame replied to him, "Good… So now where to next?" Naruto reached into his ninja pouch and took out a scroll and looked over it's content, "We have to go to the Land of Lightning and Wind."

Kisame told him, "We'll go to Lightning Country first and then Wind. All we have to do is head north. Zetsu is off on a mission for Leader so we will be taking a boat." Not in any way to disagree Naruto told him to lead the way and they started walking away leaving behind the dead bodies of Kiri ninjas.

* * *

* Next Day: Hokage's Tower *

Minato was sitting behind his desk with two flak jackets sitting atop his desk and inside his office was Kurenai and Hinata they all awaited the other two. Minato looked at the clock on the wall sighing, "That Kakashi is always late."

Hinata asked him, "Hokage-sama was it really just the two of us?"

"Yes it is. From what Kushina and the others have told me about the matches we didn't really see enough of everyones abilities except for you two. I have faith that you two will be something great." Minato said to her. Hinata blushed nervously and Kurenai lightly nudged Hinata smiling down at her. The door to the office opened up and they saw Kakashi and Haru walk in.

Minato asked sarcastically, "Well let's hear it."

Haru told her dad, "Training went a little longer than usual and this old lady asked us to help carry her groceries for her."

There was a brief silence before Minato looked at Kakashi saying, "Kakashi please don't have my daughter lie to me." Kakashi responded, "Sensei it's the truth it's not a lie!"

Haru snickered thinking to herself, 'See Kakashi-sensei I knew he wouldn't believe it. You're buying me ramen for a whole week!'

Minato waved his hand back and forth saying, "Yeah, yeah Kakashi sure. Anyway let's get down to business."

Haru and Hinata stood shoulder to shoulder next to each other with their senseis standing behind them. Minato stood up and walked around his desk and picked up both of the flak jackets and stood proudly before the two. He looked at Hinata first holding out the flak jacket in his right hand, "Hinata-chan you've showed the most improvement out of anyone in your graduating class and you displayed that talent by making it to the semi-finals. Congratulations."

Hinata reached out and took the jacket, then bowed to the Hokage saying, "Arigatou Hokage-sama I will not disappoint you." Minato politely bowed back then looked over to Haru holding out his left hand, "This one is yours Haru-chan. You've trained your body till it wanted to give up, but that never die spirit of yours kept you going. I'm proud of you, congratulations."

Haru got a bit teary eyed and reached out grabbing the jacket, "Arigatou tou-san." She wiped away the droplets that were still in her eyes with the sleeve of her orange jacket. The two new pronounced chunnin took off their original jackets letting them fall to the ground and they both put on their new flak jackets over their black shirts. Minato put a hand on both of their shoulders saying, "You'll both do great."

Both girls nodded and bowed to him telling him thank you. Minato told Hinata and Kurenai, "You two can resume your training. I'll see you later tonight Hinata-chan."

"Hai Hokage-sama, I'll see you later Haru-chan." Hinata told the two. Haru said to her, "Yeah kaa-san is going make a feast for us ranking up! See you later!" After the two kunoichis left Minato asked Haru, "How is she really?"

Haru frowned and told her father, "She's using more fake smiles than real ones. The last time she smiled genuinely was the moment before he said that he was leaving the village and from there she stopped really smiling." Looking at him she smiled, "But she won't give up that easily."

Minato understood what she meant fully, but now pushing that aside it was finally time, "Haru-chan… I need to tell you that-"

Before he could finish she said, "It's time to tweak the seal right?" Kakashi and Minato were both silent, Minato had told her about it in detail after telling her about Naruto, she seemed afraid at first when she found out what could happen. Haru hardened her look and shouted, "Let's do this tou-san! If it'll make me stronger then I'll do it! I never back down from a challenge believe it!"

Both the men smiled with Minato telling his daughter, "We'll start now. Your kaa-san, Arashi, and Jiraiya are already waiting for us at the mansion underground. Haru I'm going to tell you right now that we won't be there with you physically and we will try to help you, but we can only do so much when the process begins. Right now we can tweak it so that you can do more than you can right now and when you get older we'll really tweak the seal that way you have complete control. For now though we've upped this new seal with dozens of different safety methods so that we can prevent the beast's influence." He put both his hands on her shoulders asking his daughter, "Haru when you do this you mustn't show weakness to it, if you do it'll capitalize on it and use that against you. So I ask can you do this? I mean really do this?"

Haru hardened her gaze and put fist over her chest where her heart was, "I can tou-san! Trust me I'll be fine!"

Minato smiled at her, "I do trust you. Now let's go." Haru nodded and Minato, Haru, and Kakashi left to go to the Hokage's Mansion to join up with the others for the new sealing process.

* An Hour Later: Hokage Mansion *

ANBU surrounded the mansion for this sealing process, they were all told what was to happen and a lot of them were nervous about what if it failed? These specific ANBU ninjas were all hand selected by the Hokage and were his best. Tsunade showed up giving Minato her necklace that belonged to her grandfather the Shodaime Hokage, Minato also called for one of his ANBU codenamed Yamato who was a vital for this success. Yamato had on the normal ANBU attire with a cat mask and from what you could see he had spiky brown hair.

Underneath the mansion everyone minus the ANBU were in the huge bunker Tsunade and Yamato stood off to the side looking around the room. The very center of the room had a swirl design and numerous sealing written spanning out away from the center and even going up the walls and above the ceiling with another massive swirl in the center of the ceiling. Inside the seals were four empty circles for the four fuinjutsu specialists.

The doors leading into the bunker opened revealing the Namikaze family, Jiraiya, and Kakashi. Haru was wearing black tight shorts and a tight black sleeveless shirt that also showed her stomach, she also had additional seals drawn on her arms, legs, and neck. Kakashi joined Tsunade and Yamato while Kushina, Arashi, Minato, and Jiraiya stood in the empty circles, all of them had their sleeves rolled up revealing the same sealing style that covered their entire forearms.

Kushina told Haru, "Haru-chan you have to lay down in the center and we'll begin." Haru looked over at her mother and followed her orders and laid down on the giant swirl that was twice her size. Jiraiya, Arashi, and Kushina sat down in a meditating positions, but Minato didn't just to tell everyone, "Everyone ready?"

Arashi, "Hai."

Kushina, "I am as well."

Jiraiya, "Let's do this."

Haru, "I'm ready tou-san!"

Minato looked at each one involved and then sat down himself down. Minato instructed everyone to place their hands on the seals in front of them, Minato looked at his daughter one last time who nodded approvingly at him. Minato nodded back and shouted, "Eight Trigrams Demon Beast Sealing Jutsu!" The seals in the room, on their arms, and on Haru started to glow a bright gold color.

Tsunade, Kakashi, and Yamato shielded themselves from the brightness caused by the light. Haru gritted her teeth thinking, 'My body feels like it's been lit on fire! Why does it feel like I'm floating!' She opened her eyes and saw the glowing spiral above her and saw that she was so close to it and when she looked around the room she saw that she was floating in the air with a massive ball of chakra surrounding her body.

Minato saw that the ball of chakra started to darken and the image of Haru started to disappear. They all watched as the ball completely blackened and Haru disappeared entirely. Arashi asked worried, "Tou-san is that suppose to happen?" Kushina also wasn't sure herself even though this was her clan's specialty she's never seen it used like this. Jiraiya just stared at the ball that gave off a sinister amount of killing intent.

"Don't worry. The Kyuubi just sent out it's chakra and this is the result. This is what we wanted, just keep pulsing chakra into the seal." Minato said calmly, he looked over at Tsunade asking, "Tsunade! Summon out four slugs, we'll need you to heal us during this process. If even one of us lose our chakra then the sealing process will stop and Haru could die."

That was all she needed to hear, she bit her thumb till blood was drawn she silently whispered, "Boar→Dog→Bird→Monkey→Ram! Summoning Jutsu!" She slammed her hand on the ground and five twelve inch long slugs and all of them were black with neon blue spots around the whole body. She looked at Kakashi and told him, "Kakashi you have better aim so take these slugs and toss them at them!"

Kakashi looked at her like she was crazy and immediately Kushina shouted, "What! That's disgusting!"

"Umm Minato can't we do this any other way? I'm not ideal about having a slimy slug on me." Jiraiya asked.

Minato didn't respond and told Kakashi, "Try and not to hit us in the face." Kakashi sighed and grabbed the first slug feeling how slimy these ones were. Kakashi aimed at Jiraiya first and hit him square in the back, taking another one he had to angle himself so he could get Arashi and tossed the slug hitting him on the knee, he decided to throw the third one at Kushina's side so it wouldn't have skin contact with it though she was still grossed out, and he tossed the last one at Minato's shoulder. Once the slugs were on them Tsunade picked up the last one and put it on her stomach, "Okay I'll start the jutsu! Chakra Transfer Jutsu!" She made the Tiger handsign.

"It's begun." Minato said feeling an odd mixture of chakra in the seal, this gained everyones attention he said as he added chakra, "Haru is face to face with the Kyuubi. Focus now… this is the vital part."

Kushina, Arashi, and Jiraiya got serious and added their chakra again. Everyone in the room sat patiently for the jutsu to end.

* * *

* Three Days Later: Land of Lightning *

A single male ninja was in a canyon area, his clothes were all ripped and torn, but not a scratch on his body. He had dark-skin, long white hair tied in a ponytail, the Kumo ninja attire, his headband tied around his head, and a sheath on his back. The Kumo nin cursed to himself thinking, 'He shattered my sword using Wind Release. My lightning attacks are useless against him… and what's more Kiri's Monster of the Hidden Mist is here as well.'

Hiding behind a large boulder he thought again looking around, 'How the hell do they always find me? Sensor? No he accurately knows how I am going to strike… Perhaps a kekkei genkai or maybe someone is watching from the shadows?' He slowly stood up and tried to sneak around to find the best route to escape. He peeked around one of the giant boulders and froze, 'Shit!'

He saw both Kisame and the Hokage's son were both standing at least ten feet away starring right at him. He gritted his teeth and walked out from behind the boulder, "What the hell do you two want with me?"

"We heard that your clan is fairly popular for your bloodline. We're just here to see if it is worth the take Tekkou." Naruto said calmly. Tekkou looked at them both seeing Kisame grinning showing his sharp teeth and Naruto who had that cold calculating gaze, "You've seen my kekkei genkai first hand and experienced it. Well what's the verdict?"

Both Kisame and Naruto looked at one another and then back to Tekkou, Kisame aimed Samehada at Tekkou grinning, "Get ready."

Tekkou made the Dragon handsign and his skin color turned completely black with a shine to it. Naruto ran at Tekkou and sliced out at him causing sparks to fly as the sword ran across his skin not cutting at all, Tekkou tried to punch Naruto, but the he countered by hitting his wrist just as he extended knocking his fist away. Kisame appeared behind Tekkou and swung Samehada hitting him in the side of ribs sending him flying into a boulder.

Naruto put Nuibari in it's sheath on his back and charged the Rasengan in his right hand. Tekkou jumped out of the boulder and brought his hands together doing a few handsigns, "Lightning Style: Lightning Plume!" Lightning erupted from his individual fingertips flying outwards in a rotating motion. Kisame and Naruto watched as the bolts ripped through the earth.

Moving Naruto charged forward with the Rasengan held out, the lighting hit the Rasengan dispersing the small lightning bolts easily. Tekkou saw the blue ball rip through his lightning and he stopped his jutsu to flex his body so that his muscles show, Naruto drove the Rasengan Tekkou's stomach. Tekkou felt the jutsu and it's power a white light erupted and enveloped Tekkou sending him spiraling away from Naruto.

Looking back Naruto saw one of his clones had rolled up a scroll with a big kanji for lightning in the center. Kisame was sitting away from the clone and Naruto asking, "You broke down how to beat him already? You are something else. So what do you need of me?"

Naruto told Kisame, "I need you to just surround him in water from there I can handle it."

Kisame stood back up impressed, "Alright fine. Just tell me where."

Tekkou pulled himself out of the crater his kekkei genkai released with his skin it's natural color. He held onto his stomach where there was a small round imprint the size of a baseball, 'That actually damaged my jutsu?' He heard some movement and looked up at the top of the canyon seeing both Naruto and Kisame standing at the top. He quickly activated his kekkei genkai ready to fight yet again.

Kisame had put Samehada on his back and did a few handsigns and jumped down to level with Tekkou, who dropped into a fighting stance. Kisame shouted, "Water Style: Water Shockwave!" water erupted from the ground beneath him surrounding Kisame in the form of a tornado before blasting out. Naruto watched from up high thinking, 'He can actually sense where water is. That is a useful technique, he is a very powerful water user.'

The water exploded out from the top and out toward Tekkou. Seeing how massive and viscous the waves were he tried avoiding each wave shot that come his way, but they seemed to be following him. From inside the waves Kisame summoned two water clones.

The first water clone brought it's hands together and shouted, "Water Style: Thousand Water Whips!" As the wave of water tried to hit Tekkou the water clone had an almost uncountable amount of whips shot out and latched onto an unsuspecting Tekkou. The Water Shockwave jutsu collided onto the Kumo nin sending him flying all over the place slamming him against the walls and ground hard. The final clone placed his hands on the water surface shouting, "Water Style: Ultimate Water Prison!" The water began to take shape and form a massive dome of water.

Tekkou floated to the bottom of the water realizing that his steel body was too heavy to let him swim in this water. Looking in the dome all he could see was water, 'Damn I have to get out of here now.' He clapped his hands together and his steel skin went back to normal and he started to float and started to swim to get out of the jutsu. Naruto landed on the ground seeing Kisame and his clones had their hands on the giant water dome. Kisame asked Naruto, "You ready?"

Naruto nodded and pulled out the scroll his clone used earlier. Naruto unraveled the scroll and tossed it into the water, Kisame and the water clones quickly retracted their hands and Naruto held up his right hand with his index and middle finger extended, "Lightning Seal Release!" The seal on the scroll lit up with a blue light and soon the whole dome erupted into lightning.

As the waves crashed Kisame slammed his hand on the ground making the earth beneath them rise up keeping the electrified water from hitting them. They saw the water spread all over the canyon floor with electricity still jumping from it's surface, Naruto pointed, "He's over there." Kisame looked in the direction Naruto pointed in and saw Tekkou unconscious face down in a pool of water. The electricity stopped and they walked through the water to get to Tekkou.

Kisame looked at Naruto running through his head thinking about, 'He knew that Tekkou would stop using that steel jutsu if he was completely submerged underwater and that by using a lightning ninjutsu in that much water would amplify the damage. Wonder if he's dead, but knowing how badly he was shocked there is no way his heart could've taken that much damage. We might've stopped his heart until it's useless.'

As if sensing his thoughts Naruto told Kisame, "He's not dead, but he is close. I need to take his heart now otherwise it'll be useless." Standing over his body he turned Tekkou around and saw that his eyes were open, but nobody was home. Now was the process of retrieving another valuable heart.

* * *

* One Week Later: Konoha *

Hinata was panting heavily right now she was training with Kushina at the Hokage's training ground. Kurenai was sent off on an A-Ranked mission and wouldn't be back for at least a month. Hinata only had on her dark blue pants, shirt, and sandals, her right hand was trembling and she was grimacing at the pain she was feeling in it. Kushina was watching with her hands on her hips, "Come on Hinata-chan just a little more to go!"

Hinata nodded, "Hai sensei." She held her right hand out and activated her byakugan, chakra began spiraling in her hand. Hinata started the shape manipulation keeping a close eye on the chakra and making sure the rotation was right the blue spiraling ball, Kushina stood by watching carefully, 'Hinata really has the hang of this jutsu. She is grasping it quicker than Haru and Naruto.'

The rasengan was stabilized and it didn't dissipate this time and instead the form and chakra were perfect. Hinata looked ahead at the tree that had numerous circular shaped holes in it, charging forward she screamed, "Rasengan!" When the ball hit the tree it tore the tree in half and the rasengan was still intact in her hand. After a few seconds passed the rasengan faded, Hinata was panting heavily and fell forward fainting.

She didn't hit the ground since Kushina caught her before she hit the ground, Hinata's eyes fluttered until she awakened, "Sensei?"

Kushina gently helped Hinata to sit, "You've done it." Hinata looked at her right hand and smiled, 'I'm one step closer to Naruto-kun.' She tried to stand up, but Kushina stopped her from doing that.

"Hinata-chan just sit and relax for now. If you push yourself to hard you won't be able to train."

Agreeing she remained seated and Kushina sat down next to her, both were looking up in the sky watching the clouds drift. Hinata asked her, "Will Minato-san go meet with the Tsuchikage?"

Kushina frowned and slumped a little, "Yes, they both will talk at a later time. A time where they both agree upon."

"Will you be going?"

Kushina shook her head, "Minato doesn't want me to go and I don't blame him. If I stand in that man's presence again I fear that I won't be able to control my actions." She looked at Hinata, "Hinata-chan you told me that you would become stronger to save and protect Naruto, but I want to know what you will do if he refuses to come back home?"

Hinata brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs and looked saddened, "I thought about that for a long time sensei. I would beg Naruto-kun to let me go with him."

"Why?"

Hinata sniffled a bit, "No body ever looked at me like he did. My friends all saw me as the one who needed protection, my family saw me as a nuisance, and everyone else saw me as that little girl who was hopeless. Naruto-kun didn't when he stayed the two of us were together a lot. I was barely with Haru-chan or the others at all. Naruto-kun saw me and he made me feel wanted and special." She hugged her legs tighter, "Now that Naruto-kun is gone it feels like that part of me before he came to the village is returning. That scared part, the easily intimidated, the one no one would need. I saw how depressed everyone has become over him leaving, I don't want Naruto-kun back for just me I want to bring him back so everyone will smile again like it was before he left."

Kushina was smiling the whole time Hinata spoke, she really does love her son otherwise she wouldn't open up this much. Kushina put her left arm around Hinata's shoulder and pulled her into a hug, "I support your decision no matter what it is Hinata-chan, but I know that you and Haru-chan will bring him back. There is no doubt in my mind." Hinata hugged her back, "Arigatou sensei."

She rubbed the top of Hinata's head telling her, "Forget about calling me sensei, just call me Kushina." Hinata nodded and she whipped her eyes. Kushina stood up asking, "You ready to continue?"

Hinata stood up no longer wobbly, "Hai Kushina-san!"

* * *

* Same Time: Land of Wind *

Team Baki were on their way to complete an A-Ranked mission to dispatch a possible assassination team that was hiding out in the Oasis. It was a place where many dangerous creatures lived and were fiercely territorial, not may go there because of these animals. However these assassins are targeting the Kazekage and they were asked to go handle the situation. Naturally this mission would be a a S-Rank and have jounin go, but the Kazekage felt that with Gaara being a chunnin now and with Baki going of course that they could handle this and dumped it down to an A-Rank.

Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara were behind Baki as he led the way. All of them had on ponchos and head wraps to cover their faces from the small sandstorm that built up. Baki told them, "Okay we're approaching the location of the Oasis. We just need to go through the cave up ahead, remember that they could've lined the cave with traps. Be on your guard."

His team nodded and they moved to the mouth of the cave. Gaara held out his hand whispering, "Sand Detection." Sand flowed out from beneath his poncho and was clinging to the opening of the cave and went inside slowly. Temari and Kankuro had their weapons ready just in case, a minute went by and Gaara said, "All the traps have been activated already."

Baki, Temari, and Kankuro were shocked, "What do you mean Gaara?" asked Temari.

Gaara pulled his sand back replying, "I mean all the traps have been activated. My sand laid out perfectly around the traps and I could feel that they were out of place. Someone must've gone in way before us."

Kankuro said aloud, "And didn't get hit by any of those traps?" Baki told Kankuro, "Send it in."

Agreeing Kankuro reached into a larger pouch he was carrying and took out a puppet that looked exactly like his Crow puppet, but only about a foot tall, once he set it down he aimed his index finger at it and began controlling it. Gaara held out his hand letting his sand form into an eye, the small puppet took the eye and walked inside. Gaara gave instructions to Kankuro where to go by what he seen. They went deeper and deeper into the cave.

Gaara said quickly, "Stop."

Kankuro stopped his puppet that was deep inside the cave, looking in you couldn't even see the puppet at all. Baki asked Gaara, "What do you see?"

"Dead bodies. They are not ninjas from any village I'm familiar with, but they have ninja equipment. Possibly rogue ninjas who've left all traces of their village, they have clean gash marks in their bodies."

Baki told his team, "Okay we're going in. You all know what to do right?"

His team nodded, Kankuro pulled his hand back quickly and he saw his puppet come flying back and he caught him putting him back in his pouch. Baki counted down from five and then they all darted inside the cave still weary of traps, Baki took out a glow rod and snapped it so it illuminated the way. They passed the corpses that Gaara seen and ignored them. They saw a light at the end of the cave's tunnel, running into the light they saw that they were in a huge crater that was partly covered by a dome with a giant hole in the center. Green trees, pools of clean water, and a lot of large animals were everywhere.

Temari pointed off to the side whispering, "Hey look over there." Baki, Gaara, and Kankuro looked to where she pointed and they saw from a reasonable distance a few blurry figures. Baki told them, "We're going to approach slowly. Now let's move." His team agreed and they followed him into the forrest. Along the way they saw men and women dead on the ground all wearing armor. They must've been the assassination team, however as they got closer they saw some of the animals were slaughtered as well.

They got close to where they saw the collected figures, first they saw who Baki recognized as Kisame Hoshigaki and they saw a second figure who was bent over someone who was laid out on the ground. Baki saw the cloaks they were both wearing and thought, 'Akatsuki.'

Baki made a hand movement for his team to retreat, but the moment they moved an inch Kisame said aloud, "We've got spectators."

The four of them froze for an instant and Kisame turned to them already running through handsigns at inhuman speeds, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Water rose from behind Kisame in the form of a dragon. Kisame pointed to them and the water shot at them roaring, Baki did a few handsigns thinking, "Wind Style: Air Pressure Cannon!" he blasted a giant ball of air that collided with the water dragon's head destroying it making water go everywhere. Kankuro summoned out one of his new puppets called Black Ant that he used to open it's barrel like stomach to put Gaara inside to keep him from getting wet.

Temari took out her fan and shouted, "Wind Style: Great Sickle Weasel!" large air currents blasted outward cutting numerous trees down instantly heading into the Akatsuki's direction. Dust kicked up and they couldn't see anything. Kankuro let Gaara out of Black Ant once the water was no longer showering the field, it was silent for a moment before they heard a rapid approach of footsteps making them all go on guard. Kisame burst through the dust and landed about twenty feet away with his sword drawn.

"Well some Suna nins decided to join the fun. We did your job for you, so there is no reason for you to be here." Kisame said. Baki was a bit nervous, he wasn't sure where the second one was at, "That may be Kisame, but you're with the Akatsuki. Our orders are to capture or kill any Akatsuki we run across."

Kisame grinned, "You gotta do what you gotta do." He noticed Gaara and said, "He's the Jinchuriki isn't he?"

Temari and Kankuro moved in front of Gaara shielding him. Baki demanded, "How do you know that?"

Kisame aimed Samehada at them, "That's for us to know and for you to never find out!" Gaara aimed his hands forward shouting, "Sand Blaster!" Sand shot out at amazing speeds to Kisame, but before it hit they all heard, "Rasengan!"

They saw Gaara's sand spread out and fall to the ground, then standing between them and Kisame they saw someone they have familiarized them self with from the Bingo Book, 'Naruto Namikaze.' thought Gaara. Naruto was staring at them looking over each of the ninjas, 'Two wind type users, a puppet user, and a sand user. If what I was told about the Ichibi is true then those three there must be the Kazekage's kids and the guy with the red markings on his right cheek is their sensei.' Naruto thought to himself.

Baki told his students, "Right now the mission is cancelled. We're leaving now."

Gaara ignored him and aimed his hands at Naruto, "Sand Bullets!"

"Gaara stop!" Baki shouted.

Naruto saw the tiny pellets made up of sand shoot out from Gaara's poncho toward him. Naruto made the Boar handsign and he vanished quickly, Kisame watched Naruto vanish saying, "Looks like he can use that technique now." He heard movement behind him and saw a puppet coming at him with blades sticking out of all six of it's arms. Kisame jumped over the puppet and slashed out at an empty space behind, the puppet went limp and fell to the ground.

Kankuro was stunned, "What the hell?" Baki stood in front of Kankuro saying, "You're gonna be my backup." Kankuro nodded and Kisame walked over to them with that shark like grin on his face.

Naruto appeared next to Gaara which seemed to surprise the red head and Naruto punched and hit him in the jaw making him fall back. Temari aimed her fan at Naruto and swung, "Wind Style: Sickle Weasel!" a smaller version of her earlier jutsu blasted toward Naruto who remained motionless. The wind current surrounded Naruto but was immediately blasted outward destroying the jutsu with Naruto still standing exactly where he was before leaving Temari shocked.

Gaara got back up and his sand covering his skin was cracking, 'How did he get passed my sand?' After standing up Gaara held his arms out so they were parallel with the ground, "Great Sand Outburst!" Sand exploded from the bottom of his poncho's sleeves, neck, and bottom and flying toward Naruto. He again made the same handsign as before and disappeared quickly avoiding the attack. Temari ran over to Gaara seeing the sand move away from her.

After the sand was done it was now spread out far on the ground and his poncho was now removed showing that he was wearing a reddish-brownish overalls with longer sleeves and an upright collar, he also had a white cloth, but had mesh armor on his wrists and ankles. Temari also removed her poncho showing that she was wearing a long sleeved purple blouse under a grey top, a dark blue skirt, and a longer sash arranged in a bow.

The two were looking around the battlefield for any sign of Naruto both were very cautious at this point.

"Where are you two looking?"

Both Gaara and Temari didn't move, the voice was directly behind them. They both looked behind them and saw Naruto only a few feet away looking at them with those emotionless eyes. They didn't make any quick movements, Gaara narrowed his eyes at him, 'He got by me again. How is he doing this?'

Temari slowly reached into her sleeve where a smaller fan was hidden.

"That hidden fan won't help you."

Temari stopped and her eyes widened thinking, 'How did he know?'

Gaara was also puzzled how he knew about that since only his team and their father knew that she carries a small fan with her now at all times. Gaara made a simple hand movement and a sand wall blasted up separating them from Naruto. Gaara grabbed Temari around her waist and jumped away from the wall telling her, "Do it!" Nodding in agreement Temari swung her giant fan, "Wind Style: Great Whip Chain Serpent!" her fan let out a massive tunnel of wind that bent to her will and it went around the sand wall and wrecked all on the other side. Gaara aimed his hands out shouting, "Sand Prison!" The wall of sand spread out ward and formed a dome over a fairly large area and compressed.

Once it shrunk to the size of a human sized dome. Gaara told her, "Be alert, he's fast there's no telling if he got out or not!" Temari moved so her back was against Gaara's back staying alert and constantly looking around for any danger. They felt the ground quake underneath them and it almost lost their balance, the two looked around and saw water gushing out from where they assumed their sensei and brother were fighting.

"You should worry about yourselves first."

They heard his voice again and Temari felt something hit he in her side and sent her flying back and Gaara saw blur in front of him and something hit his face sending him into the opposite direction. Temari held onto her side and looked up seeing Naruto standing in between where her and Gaara would have been standing, 'He's moving just as fast as that Rock Lee kid.' she thought, blinking her eyes the next thing she saw was Naruto standing only two feet away from her.

Naruto took out Nuibari from it's sheath on his back and was about to swing it to decapitate Temari, but Naruto dodged a barrage of senbon needles that were coming from the tree line. Temari saw Kankuro's Crow come out with it's arms aimed at Naruto shooting it's poison tipped needles. Gaara was just getting up and was about to attack Naruto who was dodging and blocking the needles with his sword. Both Kankuro an dBaki emerged from behind the trees, Baki got in front of Gaara stopping him from attacking, "Don't fight run!"

"I'm not running he's right there!" Gaara argued. Baki could hear trees breaking, 'Shit he's coming.' Baki did some handsigns and shouted, "Wind Style: Twisting Blades!" Wind surrounded his arms and he sliced them both horizontally watching as they slashed through trees as if they weren't even there. The moment he ended it he and Kankuro locked gazes to which he understood what his sensei wanted. He made a hand motion for his Black Ant that was close by to get behind the unsuspecting Gaara and trap him inside.

Gaara didn't notice the puppet and was already inside of it. The moment the puppet's stomach closed Baki slapped his hand over the stomach activating a seal for 'Containment'. The moment Gaara was sealed Baki ordered a retreat.

Naruto saw that the puppet stopped attacking and that they were now in retreat, he heard trees snapping and saw Kisame run over to him, "Don't let 'em get away!" Naruto joined Kisame in the chase of the Suna ninjas. Team Baki were running through the trees quickly, but Baki could feel their presence gaining on them. He noticed that Temari was running slower and was holding her side. Baki knew that she was to injured to keep up so he took her arm and put it around his shoulder helping her out. Baki shouted to Kankuro, "Get ready to blow the entrance so they can't follow!"

Kankuro shouted, "Roger!" He still had both his puppets following close to him with Crow opening it's chest that continued numerous black balls that contained explosives. Baki didn't want to look back at their followers and instead was focused on getting his team out of there alive. The moment they were in the cave Kankuro positioned Crow so that it aimed the front of it's body at the entrance and immediately let off a series of explosions that caught the puppet in the blast. Kankuro cursed, 'That was my favorite one!'

The explosion made the tunnel tremble and made it start to collapse. They ran faster and faster to get out of the tunnel before they were buried alive, they saw the light and used the last of their strength to jump out escaping the rocks that now blocked the whole tunnel. They stood up shielding their eyes a bit from the sandstorm that still raged on, Baki shouted, "Back to Suna! We can't risk them getting us now!"

Kankuro nodded and they turned leaving. Temari asked Baki, "How long are we going to keep Gaara in there?"

"I haven't seen him act like that before. I'm not risking letting him get caught. We'll let him out once I know we're safe!" Baki answered. She looked at the Black Ant that was floating next to them as they all ran, she glanced back seeing nothing but sand at this point.

The entrance of the cave blasted outward with rocks flying, Kisame and Naruto walked out to the sandstorm not seeing them anywhere, but Naruto could still see them with his byakugan, "They're heading east toward Suna."

"Alright let's get them." Kisame said.

_'Stop.'_

Naruto and Kisame froze hearing Pain's voice in their heads, _'Did you finish with what needed to be done?'_

'We did. I have gained my final heart.' Naruto said.

_'Come to the nearest hideout. Something has come up.'_

Kisame asked, 'What?'

_'It concerns the Five Nations as well as Orochimaru. I'll explain more once we start the meeting.'_ They felt the connection sever. Kisame said, "We're heading south, we have a base we set up there. It's a two day trip so et's go."

Naruto nodded and they started their trek to the base. He glanced in the direction the Suna ninjas were going in and wondered, 'Why did he want to fight me that badly?'

* * *

* Next Day Early Morning: Konohagakure *

Haru just got done packing up her things in a large backpack along with a sleeping bag. Today was the day that she would be leaving for three years, she didn't tell her friends that she was leaving in fact the only one who really knew out of the Rookie 9 was Hinata. Haru made sure that she had everything she'd need, for awhile now she has been training with her team non-stop and Kakashi only told Sasuke and Sakura yesterday that Team 7 will be disbanded for three years, but didn't tell them why. Naturally Sakura was upset and Sasuke was irked, but Kakashi also said that this wasn't forever just a temporary thing. After their training session Team 7 hung out one last time before they disbanded.

Kushina threw a party at the mansion inviting all of her and Hinata's friends and they all took a picture together. Haru asked her mother to develop the picture and to frame it for her. Haru picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder and took one last look at her room before leaving. Walking downstairs she saw Hana and Arashi were at the base holding each other. Minato wanted Arashi to at least go with them for six months at a time just to make sure that Jiraiya was really training her and not goofing off to do his research.

Arashi held her out at arms length telling her, "I'll see you in six months Hana-chan and I promise that when I get back that it'll be just me and you." Hana smiled and hugged him around his waist, "Okay. You better not be joining Jiraiya on one of his 'Research Gathering' assignments."

"That I will defiantly promise. Come on let's go." Arashi said, he saw his sister asking, "You coming?"

Haru nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming I coming." She followed him and they walked out the door heading to the main gates.

* Konoha Main Gate *

Jiraiya was at the gate waiting with Minato, Kushina, and Hinata. Hinata wanted to come no matter what to say farewell and good luck to one of her best friends. Minato told Jiraiya, "With the way things are now and Akatsuki moving around a lot more than they did before you'll need to be on guard at all times." Jiraiya responded, "Don't worry so much. I'll take care of her and make sure that she's safe. Hell Arashi will be there a majority of the time and he'll be back here for about a month before he comes back with us."

"Also Jiraiya make sure that Haru doesn't do anything to extreme you know how she gets with her training." Kushina added. Jiraiya looked at her, "Relax, you two think that this is my first time training a kid."

Minato smiled, "I know that sensei it's just that with Haru being what she is and the ones who are after her we're very limited in what we can do for her. Although I didn't like this idea it's the only way she'll get stronger faster, there would be no distractions for her and she can focus solely on training." Kushina hugged her husband's arm also saying, "Plus we're her parents so we have a right to worry."

"I got it, so where are the two blondes?"

Hinata activated her byakugan and said, "They're here."

Arashi, Hana, and Haru were walking up to them. Haru saw her parents and Hinata and ran ahead to them, "Sorry that we're late." When Arashi and Hana joined up with the group Jiraiya grabbed his backpack that was leaned up against the wall shouting, "Alright you two let's go."

Arashi looked at her parents and hugged his mother, "I'll be back in six months. Don't worry I'll watch over her kaa-san." Kushina hugged her son back, "I know you will. You be safe too."

They broke apart and Minato put a hand on his son's shoulder, "Good luck." Arashi put his hand on his dad's shoulder replying, "Thanks tou-san." Arashi looked down at Hinata and put his hand on top her head telling her, "Don't let my kaa-san kill you."

Hinata smiled, "I'll manage."

Haru was hugging her mother tightly, Kushina was hugging her tight as well with Minato hugging them both. Haru whispered, "I'll miss you guys."

Minato whispered back, "You won't be gone forever. You'll be back before you know it." Minato and Haru let go, but Kushina continued hugging her.

"Kaa-san?" Haru said feeling her mother tighten her hug more. Kushina whispered, "All my babies will be out of the house."

Haru frowned knowing that this would be the first time all three would be gone from the house for an extended time. She hugged her again saying, "Kaa-san… We'll all be happy again, once Hinata-chan and I bring Naruto back we'll be happy again." Kushina kissed her daughter on her forehead, "Worry about yourself for the next three years first okay?"

Haru nodded and the two let go. Haru looked at Hinata, the two chunnin just embraced in a hug, "Good luck Haru-chan. I'll miss you." said Hinata. Haru said, "Thanks Hinata-chan. Everything will get better soon, train hard and when I get back I'll want a rematch with you." Hinata replied, "Gladly."

The two broke away and Haru saw Arashi say one finally goodbye to Hana and he walked over to her guiding her to Jiraiya. The three stood away from the others with Jiraiya asking the two, "So you guys ready?"

Haru took another look at her parents and smiled, "Hai! Let's get going!" she shouted pumping her fist into the air. Jiraiya smiled too and started walking away with the two blondes following after him. As Haru walked away she looked up at the sky and thought, 'In three years we'll see each other again and in three years we'll fight again. Next time though I'll come out the victor, you better be getting stronger too Naruto-nii.'

Minato watched them walk away and put his arm around his wife feeling her tremble a bit, this was the first time all three of their children would be away for such a long time. Kushina held onto her husband and asked, "Things will get better right?" He nodded and replied to her, "I know it will."

Hinata watched as the three shrunk as they got farther away, she walked in front of the Hokage and Kushina staring at the kunoichi, "Sensei I'm ready to start my training!"

Both Minato and Kushina were stunned at her outburst. Kushina wiped a tear away and toughened her exterior, "If you're ready to get really serious about this training, then let's get started!" Hinata nodded and they left to start training. Minato looked over and saw that Hana was still standing motionless, he asked, "You okay?"

Hana looked at the Hokage and frowned, "I am it's just that. He's never been away this long before." Minato put both his hands behind his back telling her, "He'll only be gone six months at a time and he'll be here one month before he has to leave again. He won't be gone forever, question is will you be standing in that exact spot each time he returns?"

"Of course I will Hokage-sama!" She nearly shouted looking at him. Minato laughed seeing the determination in her eyes, "Well then I have nothing to worry about. You're still welcome to come by the mansion anytime you need to, well I should get back to doing my paperwork. See ya." He said walking away.

Hana saw him leave and looked back to where she couldn't even see the three anymore whispering, "Arashi-kun… I'll wait no matter how long it takes… Just come back to me." She decided to just stand there awhile longer before she leaves as well.

* Uchiha Compound *

Sasuke got up from his bed and got ready for the day. Itachi had told him yesterday that he'd begin his training once the sun rose, now that the sun was up he wondered what kind of training he'll be doing with his brother. Sasuke left his room and walked down the hallway of the once famed Uchiha home, though he denies it he could still see images of his father and mother walking these halls and often he wonders if Itachi sees these as well. He walked into the kitchen and was amazed to see Itachi standing in the doorway, Sasuke stopped in front of him.

Itachi looked down at Sasuke with that usual piercing stare, "We're leaving."

"Where too?" Sasuke asked him and was immediately hit on the forehead with Itachi's index and middle finger. Sasuke stumbled back a bit and rubbed his pulsing forehead, "What was that for?"

Itachi said in his monotoned voice, "We'll be training and in which case I'll be your sensei for three years. You will address me as sensei and you will not question me again. Understood?"

Sasuke rubbed his forehead a bit more and nodded, "Sure. Can I ask sensei where we will be going?"

Itachi reached down and that's when Sasuke noticed that Itachi had two backpacks by his legs. He picked up one and handed it to Sasuke, "We'll be going to Training Ground 44 otherwise known as the Forest of Death." Sasuke took the backpack and Itachi picked his up, "We'll be living there for a long time from now on. However when the Chunnin Exams come around or the field needs to be used we will leave and train elsewhere. You'll be on your own when I am called away on missions and will keep training until my return." Itachi walked passed Sasuke continuing to talk, "I will make you a presentable ninja and in three years I guarantee that you will be a jounin."

Sasuke followed Itachi and put his backpack on, "Sounds good to me. As long as I am able to protect my friends."

Itachi stopped mid step and looked back at Sasuke, "You sound like a Leaf ninja already. However those would be empty words if you don't put your all into this training. I don't question Kakashi's training methods, but he had to juggle three ninjas and time was spent on each of you and since now that you are under my care I'll focus as much time and training on you as possible. Be ready Sasuke for the toughest training you've ever had." Itachi started walking out the door, Sasuke took a deep breath and followed after his older brother, this was officially the first steps to redeeming himself in his own way.

* Haruno Household *

Sakura was asleep in her bed and awakened to the sound of a tapping noise. She got up and rubbed her eyes of the sleepy feeling, looking around she heard that the sound was coming from her window. Walking to her window she pulled back her curtains and opened her window sticking her head out, she suddenly felt a tap on her forehead which freaked her out, she fell back into her room, looking up she saw Kakashi was now in front of her window causing her to shout, "What the hell Kakashi-sensei! You almost scared me to death!"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head saying to her, "Sorry about that, but time is of the essence."

Sakura calmed down asking, "What do you mean?" She noticed that he wasn't his usual cheery self and was serious, "Kakashi-sensei what's wrong?"

Kakashi turned around facing his back to her, "Sakura-chan… Get dressed and meet me at our usual training ground. I'm going to be teaching you one-on-one for the next three years."

"W-What about Sasuke-kun?" she asked. Kakashi looked over his shoulder at her, "Sasuke has been taken care of. He has someone training him and Haru has someone training her, so I'll be training you from here on out personally. We'll be training the whole time and when I can't I found someone else who'll contribute to helping you when I'm away on missions. From here on out Sakura-chan you'll have to worry about yourself first and your teammates second. They'll be fine. Now get dressed I'll see you at the training ground." Kakashi disappeared to quickly for her to see him.

Sakura got up and closed her window and her blinds and got dressed, she made sure that all of her weapons were in her ninja pouch along with some medicines and once she knew that she was ready she ran out of the house shouting to her mother, "Kaa-san I'll be back later!" Not waiting for a response she dashed down the streets of Konoha to her team's usual training spot. Today she was going to change herself, she was going to show everyone how strong she'll be.

* * *

* Sunagakure Territory *

Gaara was out in the desert during a sandstorm utilizing his sand jutsu to a whole new level. Making walls as high as the defensive walls surrounding Suna, Gaara pulled his sand together making a figure form it was taking a shape three times the size Gaara was. As he was creating it the sand fell, he had yet to perfect his jutsu. That's when he heard someone approach him from behind.

"Pushing yourself a little too hard aren't you Gaara?"

Gaara looked behind him and his eyes widened in shock at his visitor, "What do you want Kazekage-sama?"

Gaara's father stood some ten feet behind Gaara wearing his kage robes leaving his hat behind. Leaving his appearance visible, he had short spiky auburn color hair, creases around his mouth, and a very stern look on his face, "I came to see why you are out of Suna's walls."

Returning to trying to form the figure he replied, "Training, Naruto Namikaze was much stronger than I initially thought. I won't let myself be beaten like that again." The figure took a more better shape, but ultimately it fell. The Kazekage walked next to Gaara saying, "You won't get anywhere with the way your skills are now. I was told by Chiyo and Ebisu how you fought. Though I am impressed that you won I am disappointed that you were bested for even an instant."

Gaara gripped his hands together watching as sand blasted from the ground. The Kazekage looked at Gaara asking, "Was that an attempt to scare me?" Gaara faced the Kazekage and shot sand out at him. Sand surrounded the Kazekage and Gaara shouted, "Desert Funeral!"

Before the sand could crush him, he saw his sand was shot back by a flash of gold. Gaara stood wide eyed as the Kazekage had gold sand surrounding him and he had the black rings around his eyes, "From today on I'll be training you. If that is all you have then I fear for my village's safety. Let's see if your indestructible sand can stand up to my Magnet Styled jutsu."

The Kazekage rose one hand and gold sand rose out taking three forms, Gaara saw that the one to the far left looked a lot like Temari, the one on the far right looked like Kankuro without his hood, and the one in the middle looked like him. The Kazekage shouted, "Come now!"

Gaara rose his own sand up and it took the form of his mother, "I won't be going easy!" Gaara shouted at him the two made their attacks collide sending gold particles and sand grains everywhere.

* * *

* Next Day: Akatsuki Hideout: Naruto and Kisame *

Naruto and Kisame made it to a large cave that was hidden amongst the sand dunes and mountains. The wind was still blowing very roughly and they quickly made their way inside. Once inside Kisame turned to the entrance and made a few handsigns and placed his palm on the ground, a seal was activated and two large boulders moved to cover the cave entrance, suddenly the dark cave became illuminated by the numerous fire seals placed along the walls.

They walked down the tunnel until they came to a large area that was very large. Naruto and Kisame walked into the center of the large room Kisame let out a mental chakra signal to let the leader know that they were at the hideout.

An image appeared before them and they saw Pain along with the other members of Akatsuki save for Madara. Pain was in the center with the others surrounding him, _"We're all here."_

Hidan shouted, _"Oi what's this meeting called for!"_

Konan looked at Hidan saying, _"Be silent and you'll find out."_ Hidan looked at her, _"Hey don't order me around you're not the leader!"_

_"Enough!"_ Pain said in a raised tone. When it became quiet he said,_ "It seems that Akatsuki is gaining to much attention at the moment and thanks to Konoha they've been sending out a lot of information gathered on a few of you to the other nations." there was a brief silence before Pain said, "The Nations know about our recent movements and are now setting up cells to combat us."_

Sasori asked, _"It'll be difficult to move about now. How will we be able to capture the jinchuriki if we are recognized easily?"_ Pain announced, _"Akatsuki will disappear and no action will be done under the Akatsuki colors."_

Deidara asked, _"So we'll be with Akatsuki, but we'll be abandoning our colors? When will we meet like this again?"_

_"Three years. By then all of us will have obtained enough funds for our plan and we'll also gather the biju. In those three years of inactivity the villages will let their guard down and that's when we'll capture them. Is it agreed upon?"_

All the members shouted, _"Hai!"_

_"Good now onto Orochimaru. Thanks to Sasori's intel within Orochimaru's men we've found out that he plans on using his sound ninjas to fight against us and that he also plans to kill any jinchuriki he comes across. This will be hindrance on our plans."_ Pain announced.

Kakuzu said,_ "Then let us take him out now before he tries this."_ A lot of the Akatsuki members thought that this was the best solution. Pain told them, _"No. He'll need time before he could move and for the moment he's on the fence about attacking us. We'll gather as much information as we can through Sasori about what Orochimaru plans to do, so you will also be on call should he move and who ever I call upon will counter him. Sound good?"_

Again all the members agreed. Pain told them, _"Now disappear and go about your original missions."_ One by one all the Akatsuki images disappeared except for Kakuzu and Pain's images.

Naruto and Pain locked eyes, with Naruto asking, "Is it time?"

_"It is. Kisame, Kakuzu begin the training."_

Both the Akatsuki ninjas nodded in a agreement. Pain disappeared and Kakuzu said before his image disappeared as well, _"Kisame meet me at Twisting Mountains."_

Kisame replied, "Got it." Once Kakuzu disappeared Kisame told Naruto, "Don't get to comfy we're leaving now."

"Fine by me. The sooner I start training the better." Naruto followed Kisame out of the hideout and to the Twisting Mountains

* * *

* Next Day Later: Land of Irons *

Onoki was at a location where dozens of samurai were at protecting important figures, it was a fairly large tower that also had four Iwa nins standing on the roof of the tower. The ninjas standing guard was Kurotsuchi, Kitsuchi, Akatsuchi, and an Iwa ANBU who was wearing a burgundy hooded coat and a mole mask. Onoki was looking outside the window waiting for Minato, the door to the room he was in opened revealing a samurai who was now bowing, "Tsuchikage-sama, the Hokage has entered the building and is on his way up."

Onoki nodded, "Good, thank you." the samurai left leaving him alone in the room.

Kitsuchi stood silently and he felt a presence behind them, the four Iwa nins looked and saw four ANBU all wearing black cloaks with hoods. The eight stood just staring at one another on guard in case a fight should break out.

Onoki heard the door open and he saw Minato walk in wearing the Hokage's robes and the hat with the kanji for 'Hokage' on the front. Onoki was sitting at the table and motioned to a sake bottle placed on it along with two cups, "Shall I pour us a drink?"

"No thank you Tsuchikage." Minato responded, but he did take a seat across from Onoki. When they were both comfortable Onoki asked, "I heard that your daughter became a chunnin. Is that true?"

Minato nodded, "She did. From what Kushina told me, Haru did very well in her first exam."

"That's good to hear." Onoki poured himself a cup of sake and slowly drank it. There was a silence between them before Onoki looked at Minato and saw that cold stare, the old ninja sighed saying, "Go ahead ask it."

Minato took his hat off and put it on the table, "Okay fine… Let's start from the beginning then. Tell me how you knew."

* * *

(A/N)

Thanks for paitently waiting for the update. The next chapter will be flashbacks between Onoki and Madara, I'll be going back to when Kakuzu wished to speak with Madara and his point of view on the whole kidnapping, sealing, etc... and Onoki's POV on when he was approached by Madara and when he set up the mission. More of a flashback chapter and I'll have a training scene with Naruto, Kisame and Kakuzu hope you guys will like it.


	33. How It Happened

Chapter 33: How It Happened

Wow I actually got this down quicker than expected. Like I said this is a flashback episode with a two year time-skip. This is kind of a filler chapter and after this chapter is done it'll really start to pick up.

* * *

* Thirteen Years Ago: Iwagakure *

Onoki was in his office glaring down at the man he fought against long ago. Madara Uchiha who at this point in time had his same hair style, but his mask was white with red markings going to the single right eyehole. Onoki was ready for a fight, "What the hell are you doing here Madara-teme! And whats to stop me from ripping you to shreds here and now?"

"So violent now aren't you Onoki? Or has old age affected your rational thinking? Had I wanted to do you harm I would've done it already." Madara slowly raised his arms letting the sleeves of his cloak show that he wasn't hiding any concealed weapons under them, "See I am unarmed really I am."

Onoki snarled at him, "What makes you think that you having no weapons would stop me from killing you now?"

Madara put his hands down and let them dangle at his side, looking out the window showing Iwagakure in the night moon, "I'm here to help against your most hated rival village and who knows this may also help you against your bitter rivalry with Sunagakure." Madara looked back at Onoki continuing, "Seeing as how you didn't attack yet I'll continue. The Shodaime Hokage was foolish enough to hand out biju like presents in hopes of securing peace between the nations. Like a fool chasing an impossible dream it turned on him, however Iwagakure was gracious enough to gain two powerful biju both the Yonbi and Gobi, while Konoha stuck with it's one Kyuubi."

"Where are you going with this teme?" Onoki asked angrily. Madara put his hands behind his back and calmly stated, "Because of the Three Shinobi World Wars Iwagakure was plagued with economic failure. While Konoha rose up in those three wars in power and fame, stands to understand the reasons why. In the first war the Niidaime Hokage was obviously very powerful and it was that same war that Hiruzen Sarutobi became the Sandaime Hokage the God of Shinobi. The second war brought forth the Sannin who are renowned for their power and skills as well as the fear of the White Fang of Konoha." Madara paused seeing Onoki's anger starting to rise over what he was going to say next, "And of course the third and most recent war… The rise of the Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake and let us not forget the Yellow Flash of Konoha, Minato Namikaze. You as well know of his wife Kushina Uzumaki who's power of using the Kyuubi also brought many of your ninjas to fall as well."

Onoki levitated and shot over to Madara grabbing him by his throat and slamming him into the wall cracking it, "You old man believe that you have a power to defeat them? You have such a power that can do what my sensei and Tsuchikage before me failed to do?" Despite having his throat gripped in a vice lock Madara remained calm, "That I do Chibi Onoki. The power of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox itself, think about it with three powerful biju like that how can you not accept? Maybe your granddaughter would be a befitting jinchuriki on top of Han and Roshi."

Onoki let go of Madara and levitated so that he was still eye level with him, "I know you Madara and I know that you wouldn't just give this power out without some kind of compensation."

Madara rubbed his throat for a second, "You're right. I want to see Konoha burn, but I'll need the Nine Tails for that to work. Despite how powerful it maybe the village still have Jiraiya, Danzo, Hiruzen, and of course Minato Namikaze. We've seen the ninja history and how powerful ninjas can overpower biju, i.e. Muu who overpowered the Yonbi and sealed it away. Will you listen to my deal?"

Onoki levitated backward to stand on his desk again, "Go on."

"I know how I am going to do it, when I'm going to do it, and where I will do it. You know that Kushina Namikaze is pregnant again right?" Madara asked knowing the answer it wasn't exactly a secret that she was going to bare Minato another child, when he saw Onoki nod he continued, "Female jinchuriki are at their weakest when in labor. After the battle with Hashirama his wife Mito sealed the beast within herself, but when she bore him a child the seal weakened and the beast ran free. That was around the time the Gold and Silver Brothers tried to capture the beast for Kumo only to fail and Mito again sealed the beast away within herself again."

Onoki heard about how the Ginkaku and Kinkaku appeared in Konoha out of the blue during a Konoha lockdown and then only to reappear again during a peace treaty between them and Kumo, "Let me see if I can guess what you'll say next. You know when she'll have her child?"

"Of course. I have my ways of finding this information out."

"What makes you think you'll succeed? If the Namikaze is there then he'll have a seal to stop the beast from emerging." Onoki said crossing his arms.

Madara relaxed against the wall, "I'm not going to far into detail unless you're in… If not I'm sure that the Raikage would be more than happy to obtain another Biju after all their Hachibi and Nibi jinchuriki have complete control of theirs who's to say that the next one won't be even more powerful with such a beast in their control." Madara saw Onoki look at the floor the old man was obviously at war with himself on what he should do. Madara brought his hands together saying, "I'll be leaving now."

"Wait."

Madara stopped seeing Onoki hold his hand out, "Wait… Before I agree to this I want to know what it is you want first."

"Like I said I want the Kyuubi first to destroy Konoha. From there I will seal the beast away and hand him over to you and you can use it to destroy what's left of the Land of Fire and expand your nation. I only ask that since I would be helping you out I would need a lot of money for my services." Madara explained, "That'll be fifty million ryo."

Onoki turned his back to Madara so he could sit in his chair behind his desk, "In all honesty that seems a little low for the destruction of an entire ninja village… If that is all you want then I'll do it."

Madara walked over to Onoki's desk and sat down on it, "Good, then here is my plan. I will go in and go about my business in destroying Konoha, once it is destroyed I'll seal it inside someone and deliver him over to you using two other ninjas who'll meet up with one of your men at a halfway maker. You give him the money to give to the ninjas I hired and our deal with each other will be completed. We won't even have to see each other Onoki."

Onoki had his fingers interlaced with each other thinking this over, "Konoha won't know of my involvement should this fail?"

"First this won't fail and second I'll tell the ninjas I am hiring that this is Akatsuki's job they'll be doing."

Onoki rose his eyebrow asking, "Akatsuki? That group from Amegakure?"

Madara nodded, "Indeed. I'll reassure you however if this does fail you will still get the beast, they'll hide in wait. Knowing Minato he'll have a second to seal the beast in and once he does they'll capture it and bring it to you still, let me handle the first part. You just bring the money and make sure that it is all there."

"Fine I'll leave it up to you." Onoki said, "I think I know someone who'll do just fine and the location as well. Have them meet my guy in Moulin Town at a casino called the Royal Castle, many Iwa nins go there and it wouldn't seem unusual at all."

Madara stood up and held his hand out, "Pleasure doing business with you Tsuchikage-sama." Onoki slowly reached out and shook his hand.

* * *

* Present Time: Land of Irons *

Onoki was seated at the table with Minato the two locking eyes. Onoki continued, "Madara hired two ninjas that I didn't know of, it wasn't until later when Kakuzu came to me with your son and escaped did I calm down and think about what Kakuzu had said to me… he said, 'My job was to bring the baby to you, it was those two incompetent ninjas you hired who failed you.' It was then I realized that when Madara failed he was going to sell me out. However Yukagakure never got their money, Kakuzu had screwed both them and Madara over in taking the money and running."

Minato listened to his side of Madara coming to him with the opportunity of having the Kyuubi. Madara had his successful plan and his backup incase of failure. Madara remembered that day…

* * *

* Thirteen Years Ago: Somewhere outside of Konoha *

Kushina was inside a room laying on top of a bed with large seal made around her bed. She was impatient laying there, she wasn't going into labor her water didn't even break yet. Still the Third Hokage's wife Biwako Sarutobi and Taji a highly skilled medic-nin. Minato was sitting in a chair next to her holding her hand, "I can tell that you're very restless aren't you?" he still had that smile on his face.

His wife glared at him, "Minato-kun this is a little overboard I can understand have a remote location for me giving birth after what happened with Arashi, but having ANBU surrounded the entire area is pushing it don't you think and keeping me confined to this bed until my due date."

"I don't want to take any chances." he said with a serious tone. Biwako walked over saying, "Hokage-sama you know that it isn't definite that she'll have her children today there is a chance they could be born tomorrow."

"I understand that Biwako-san, but as I said I am not taking any chances this time. Besides if by chance something happens Tsunade is waiting at the hospital as backup just in case something goes wrong. I pray that nothing will go wrong. I am positive that my kids will be born today though." Minato held onto his wife's hand harder. The older woman saw Kushina light up over his worry making the older woman comment, "Is that a bet? I swear you men think that pregnancy happens exactly when it does one hundred percent of the time and that it is the easiest thing in the world. You're acting just like Hiruzen."

* One Hour Later *

Minato watched Kushina as she slept in her bed, so far she wasn't in pain yet meaning that it might just happen another day. He reached out and rubbed her stomach feeling a few hard kicks and seeing little bumps form from underneath her shirt. Minato froze for a second and stood up slowly.

Biwako noticed him move asking, "What is it?"

Minato replied, "Someone has tripped the seal alarms. I can feel it."

Biwako looked at her assistant, "Taji you stay here. I'll check it out." Taji replied, "Hai!"

"Hey Biwako-san I'll go!"

The elderly woman looked at him saying, "And leave your pregnant wife here unprotected? We can't risk that. I'll handle this before it gets to this room! Now stay put that's an order!" Biwako turned and ran down the hallway to see what was going on. Taji and Minato stood motionless with the medic asking, "Did she just give 'you' and order Hokage-sama?"

Minato laughed a bit nervously replying, "It seems that she did…" His face then returned to it's normal calculating gaze and he thought, 'Be careful.'

Kushina woke up because of a raised voice, "What? What's going on? Where's Biwako-san?" Minato moved to her bedside and grabbed her hand again answering, "Something tripped an alarm probably just an animal that got to close to the area. The ANBU would've alerted us if it was an enemy." he said trying to comfort her. Kushina put her hand on her stomach out of worry.

Taji was standing by the doorway with kunai drawn just in case something happened. Sometime passed and Minato was really worried now, he tried not to look at the door leading into the room so as not to worry Kushina, but after noticing she was also staring at the door with worry. Finally they heard some footsteps that echoed down the hall. Minato's protective self came out and he pulled out his tri-pronged kunai and stood in front of Kushina protectively."

Suddenly coming into view was Biwako, Taji relaxed and walked up to her, "Biwako-sama I'm glad you're okay-"

"Get away from her!" Minato shouted rushing to them.

Biwako slashed Taji with a kunai slitting her throat killing her Kushina watched in horror as the young girl died, Biwako blocked Minato's kunai with her own. Minato quickly stepped back making Biwako stumbled forward allowing Minato to kick her in the side making her hit the wall next to them. Minato stood in his defensive stance and Biwako smiled and her voice was different, "What gave me away?"

Both Kushina and Minato recognized it as a man's voice. Minato replied, "I gave everyone who came with me a seal that doesn't activate the one on me, but since you entered the room you activated the seal on me. Who are you!"

The impostor brought his hands together dispelling the transformation jutsu he cast on himself. Minato and Kushina saw that the man had on a white mask and a black cloak and hood that covered the top of his head, he rushed forward at Minato and he had done the same, but the intruder had passed right through Minato.

Minato saw the man pass right through him and turned around seeing Taji come flying at him. On instinct Minato caught her and suddenly felt himself getting sucked away.

* * *

* ? *

Minato fell to the ground seeing Taji's lifeless body fall to the ground. He stood up seeing that the place he was in was dimly lit and the floor was actually numerous squared blocks that rose up out of the dark ground. Minato still had his kunai and started to do a few handsigns, "I'm coming Kushina-" He suddenly felt something grab hold of his ankle and he looked down seeing a pale white muscular man crawl out from the darkness he had short green hair and green eyes. Looking around he saw more crawl out and all dashed out to attack him. Minato kicked the first one off of him and used his kunai to slice a few of them, but more seemed to rise up out of the ground.

The continued to come out and Minato was the better fighter and was knocking these creatures away with ease. They only seemed to lash out to try and grab him, he suddenly heard a crunching sound and he looked and saw that a few of them were eating Taji, 'That's what they want! They eat meat!' A few walked over to where the others were eating while a majority of them attacked Minato.

Minato kept up his fighting and saw that they were more like mindless animals that wanted to satisfy the basic instinct to feed he quickly glided his hand across the ground placing a seal on the floor, but in doing so left himself open and one lashed out and bit Minato on his shoulder, "Aagh!" Minato screamed, he stabbed it in the head making it let go and continued fighting. He looked around and saw one jump in the air and he saw an opportunity. Minato leapt at that one and used it to kick himself in the air, he did a few handsigns and his body rippled before he disappeared.

* * *

* Somewhere in the Land of Fire *

Minato shot out of thin air hearing a variety of screams. He landed on grass and he looked behind him seeing the man from before doubled over in pain and holding the right side of his face, 'I must've been somewhere connected to him.' Minato looked around and felt an immense killing intent surrounding the area. He looked up and saw the Kyuubi was standing over him roaring into the night.

He immediately looked around and saw Kushina was laying on a stone bed exhausted. The beast was obviously to preoccupied with it's triumphant roar to notice him, he quickly made it to Kushina seeing her wincing, "Kushina!" He grabbed the sides of her face asking, "Hey speak to me!"

Kushina said, "Minato-kun… my water broke…" Minato's eyes widened in fear and he looked down at her legs seeing a water form between her legs, 'What?' Minato summoned out a clone and ordered it to take her to Konoha. The clone brought his hand up and activated the seal, Kushina reached out to Minato shouted, "Minato-kun!"

He watched them both vanish and looked up and saw that the Kyuubi took notice of him, "Crap!" The Kyuubi slammed it's hand down on the ground trying to smash him, but Minato appeared away from the beast. Looking around Minato saw the man and ran over to him with a Rasengan charged and hit the man dead in the center of his back sending him flying into a bunch of trees.

Minato looked and saw the Kyuubi was still looking for him after the attack. Minato saw the man laying on the ground and he was in pain, "I'll ask again! Who are you!"

The man stood up shouting, "Do you know what you've done! I don't have control of the beast it'll go on a rampage without my control!"

Minato glanced seeing the Kyuubi started to walk away going into Konoha's direction, "Tell me who are you and how you found us!"

The man started to fade, "I'll have my revenge against Konoha Hokage!" After that he disappeared. Minato watched as the Kyuubi was leaving and started running things through his head, 'That man was skilled enough to take down elite ANBU, killed Biwako, used an advanced Time-Space ninjutsu, he knew that Kushina was the jinchuriki, and he knew how to extract the beast and claimed to be able to control it… Only one man I know of can do all this with a grudge like this against the village… Madara Uchiha.' With all that in mind and who his opponent was Minato teleported back to Konoha to fight the beast.

* * *

* Present Time: Land of Irons *

It wasn't until later that Minato discovered from Kushina that she went into labor the moment Madara sucked him away into that other dimension. Madara obviously waited until she was due to have the babies when female jinchuriki were at their weakest for the extraction and since she went through that much stress when the beast was ripped out it sent her into labor. Kushina and the kids survived because Kushina took a large portion of the Kyuubi's chakra before it was taken from her to shield Naruto and Haru from the Kyuubi's own vicious chakra.

Obviously Madara had this all planned out from the beginning and since his plan failed he obviously resorted to using Onoki as a scapegoat while he escaped, but since Kakuzu never released information about Onoki paying for something like the elite of Konoha knew that it was really Madara who was behind this and that Onoki was basically along for the ride.

Onoki saw that Minato was deep in thought and said, "So now you know Hokage-sama…"

Minato tapped the table's surface thinking about this whole thing, "Tsuchikage-sama how did Kakuzu come into play?"

"You know that mercenary ninjas provide better results when hired. I found him and told him what he would need to do, he accepted the job when he found out what he needed to do and how much he was being paid." Onoki told him, "Kakuzu got to work to complete his mission I am certain that he didn't know Madara planned any of this."

Minato really thought this all through, Madara prayed on a kage's weakness to protect and help their village. He never planned to hand over the Kyuubi in the first place there was no way Madara would risk letting someone else keep the beast. He would've gotten both the money and the Kyuubi, now was a question he wanted to ask but already knew the answer, "What would you have done when you got my child with the Kyuubi sealed in them?"

The two kages were silent for awhile and Onoki was looking up at the blonde ninja that he's come to respect, "In all honesty Hokage-sama to help my village… I would've extracted the beast and sealed it away in my granddaughter. As a kage you must do what's right for your village despite the relationship it would cause to another village. In this world power is everything." Onoki stood up and grabbed his kage hat that was set on the table and put it on, "I'll do whatever it takes to save my village Hokage-sama..."

Minato stood up as well and picked up his kage hat as well and held onto it instead of putting it on. Onoki looked at Minato asking, "So where does this leave us?"

"I've thought about it a lot the day I found out about your part in this… I also made my decision that same day."

Onoki watched him closely as the Hokage put his hat on, "Tsuchikage-sama, despite what you've done to my family… I won't retaliate. I won't be doing this out of hatred and despite what happened your own mission didn't succeed and you had help from two other powerful ninjas." Minato walked ahead of him saying, "Konoha won't be participating in future Iwa exams and nor will Iwa nins be participating in my village's exams for a few years."

"I understand Hokage-sama." Onoki watched the Hokage walk out of the room and he gripped his fists thinking, 'Self righteous as always. That's one of the things that infuriated me about you, 'Child of Prophecy' huh?' Onoki also left the room to head back to his village. Though the outcome wasn't what he expected, but he was glad that he got away with just that and that a battle didn't break out between Konohagakure and Iwagakure.

The minute Minato walked out of the building his ANBU jumped around him. The leader wore a lion's mask and he asked, "Hokage-sama what will happen now?"

Minato put a hand on the man's shoulder answering, "Nothing… I will not let another war break out, we'll need our strength for the real enemy at hand. Iwa is banned from Konoha exams and Konoha ninjas will not participate in theirs either. We're going home now, I have all the info I need." Minato heard the doors open behind them and looked in the direction seeing Onoki come out and his ninjas surround him as well.

The ten ninjas stared each other down and it was Minato who left first along with his ANBU.

Kurotsuchi asked, "How did it go?"

Onoki watched the leaf nins leave and told him, "Iwa lost a chance at a valuable ally, but that was our mistake. Right now we have very few supporters as it is even with the success of the exams we still don't have enough. We have to be sure to show our power in the upcoming exams in Sunagakure in five months. Now let's go home." His four nins nodded and followed him as they headed in the opposite direction.

* * *

* Thirteen Years Ago: Land of Fire *

Wadomaru and Ryu were waiting in a town as ordered by their village's client. The two Yuka nins had already been waiting for their contact for three hours and they were wondering if he had been caught. So they decided to talk about their village's number one gossip, "Hey Ryu what do you think about that academy kid Hidan?"

Ryu was leaned up against a wall in an alley way, "The kid is sadistic. Even though he's only nine he slaughtered those two gennin kids, only reason why he's still alive is because the elders believe that he could be a valuable ninja down the road. Still though that kid creeps me out with that bloodlust in his eyes-"

"Sorry to keep you two waiting."

The two ninjas looked down the alley way and saw a man with a white mask with red markings on it and short spiky black hair. Ryu asked, "You're the one aren't you? So where's the money?"

Madara told them, "You'll get your money when you get our package. Now listen I'll be sending it back in the form of a pale white man with green hair and eyes, when you meet up with him you will take him to the Royal Castle Casino in Moulin Rouge. Once you hand him over you'll receive your pay from the Tsuchikage."

"It's a little strange that Tsuchikage is asking for this kind of mission." Wadomaru said. Madara looked at him threatening, "If you are going to change your mind we have a village on standby that is willing to take over."

Both men immediately shouted, "No!"

"Good. Now wait on the outskirts of the village, do not be alarmed when you see a monster rampaging the village. Just do your job, I'll send the package to you and then you'll finish it from there. Understood?" Madara asked. When he saw both of them agree Madara told them to leave, once they were gone Madara said to himself, 'Once Onoki gets his 'jinchuriki' I'll unlock the seal and let the Nine-Tailed Beast ravage Iwagakure. Killing two birds with one stone.'

Madara spiraled into the eye hole of his right eye disappearing from view.

* Two Days Later: Konoha: Night of the Kyuubi Attack *

Both men watched from the tree tops seeing a large toad battle a giant fox. The battle was vicious and was tearing the landscape apart, they were suddenly disturbed when they saw their contact appear out of thin air and fall to his knees with the sounds of gurgled coughing being heard. Ryu asked, "Hey you alright?"

Madara looked up at them shouting, "Forget me! Get into the village change of plans! While they are rampaging no one will notice you two, find Konoha's hospital and capture a baby with bright golden hair and blue eyes! it'll be a newborn!" Madara started to disappear again, but shouted before he disappeared entirely, "Get that baby!"

* * *

* Sometime Later: Iwagakure *

Onoki was at his desk awaiting news from Madara over the success of the mission. He saw the rift form in his office and Madara appeared and immediately grabbed hold of the wall, "Onoki…"

"What happened?" Onoki asked. Madara was still breathing heavily and needed to rely on the wall for support, "Onoki change of plans, they'll bring a baby instead. It'll have the Eight Trigram sealing formula on it's stomach, blonde hair, and blue eyes. I have to go now."

"Hey wait!"

Before Onoki could get to him Madara disappeared into thin air leaving the Tsuchikage confused.

* * *

* Moulin Rouge *

Madara appeared on the rooftop outside of the casino, he was wasting precious chakra jumping about like this, but he had to get the baby forget the money he just needed the baby. Madara thought to himself, 'I know what you'll do Minato… Kushina is in a weakened state the resulting chakra flooding into her already weak body would kill her no matter her clan's longevity.' Madara kneeled down and kept his sharingan activated and focused on the building, 'What the? That chakra…' Madara could see a massive amount of chakra emitting from inside the casino and it was one that he's gone up against before, 'That old fool! He hired him? I can't snatch that baby if he's here my body is to damaged to fight against someone like that.'

He didn't see the two he hired and continued looking through the crowd to see if he saw them, but he couldn't. He waited sometime before he could see Kakuzu move, because Kakuzu's kinjutsu is always on it was taking the shape of his body and was able to see the chakra through the walls. He knew that the exchange was going on, so Madara decided to follow after waiting he saw that Kakuzu headed underground.

* * *

* Iwagakure *

Madara appeared inside of Iwa no doubt the village would detect his intrusion, but appearing in Onoki's office again with both him and Kakuzu in the room would be suicide. Madara was right by the window and he peered inside reading the unsuspecting Onoki's lips and understood, 'Those fucking imbeciles! They got the wrong baby!' Madara immediately dispersed and left.

* * *

* The Same Day Naruto/Kisame leave to Collect Hearts: Akatsuki Hideout *

Madara was in the room Kakuzu was in, Madara had told him what happened. He had nothing to hide and wasn't afraid to tell him anything, "From there you could say that I was very upset with what happened. Not only did I lose to Minato Namikaze, but those two ninjas failed to get the right baby, and Onoki hired you who I never factored into my plan, nor did I expect Kushina to have twins… That bit of information wasn't told to me by my informant." The Uchiha put both his hands behind his back saying, "After that I didn't care what happened to that baby. Whether you killed it, left it in a forest, or dropped it off in a village… Minato had damaged my body to far to do anything after that, so I disappeared and went into hiding for awhile to recover. When I came out of hiding I heard through contacts of your companion. I was amazed that you decided to keep it."

Kakuzu had his arms crossed keeping an eye on him, "That's all?"

"Why would I lie to someone like you? I have nothing to gain from lying, by keeping the truth from you I'd be worsening our partnership. Despite our history I still find you a valuable ninja to Akatsuki and with his progress it'd be wise to keep him close." said Madara.

Kakuzu asked Madara, "Why not go into the village after you regained your strength or capture the girl when she was out on a mission?"

Madara walked away from Kakuzu saying, "Minato isn't stupid, he's the only ninja to outsmart and outmatch me. I got my information through Danzo on Kushina, but now that line has been severed. Trying to capture her outside of the village was a thought, but then he came into the picture and I decided to see how far this will go." He stopped and turned to look at him, "Do you have a problem with how I treat that boy?"

Immediately Kakuzu responded, "None… He's a ninja who'll follow orders, however he doesn't like you at all. I wouldn't put it past him that he wouldn't try to kill you should you present him the opportunity." Kakuzu walked to the door, "The same goes for me. I don't like that I was dragged into any of this and I will make both you and Onoki pay, maybe not now, but someday soon."

"Is that a challenge?" Madara asked mockingly. Kakuzu turned his sight to Madara, "It is. I know your jutsu and it's limitations, you're nothing special… Nothing compared to that bastard Hashirama." Madara just stood there watching Kakuzu leave and heard Zetsu.

"Madara-sama, it is getting to risky leaving Kakuzu and Naruto the way they are."

He looked and saw that Zetsu's upper half was coming out of the wall with his fly trap surrounding him, "I only need them to do their part after that I'll dispose of Kakuzu myself. I just need Naruto to capture Haru and to kill Orochimaru that's all… I highly doubt that Pain would die anytime soon since he has the Uzumaki blood flowing through him, but should he die then I'll have Naruto to replace him. That boy is high risk, but he is always useful."

Zetsu asked, "So we wait?"

"Yes… Three years. In three years Akatsuki will move, this time I'll make sure that my plan succeeds."

* * *

* Twisting Mountains *

This was Naruto's first visit here to these mountains, all of them had a spiral appearance at the mid to the tip and a fog was always present. Kisame and Naruto walked side by side going into the mountains, Naruto had his byakugan activated looking around. The plus side to these eyes was the vision, the negative side was the reach of them. Kisame said, "We're here. This is the training ground we use when we are trying to master our high ranked jutsu."

Naruto looked around seeing massive craters in numerous places along with weapons that had begun to rust and all sign of trees had been wiped out, 'What kind of jutsu do they know to cause this much damage?'

"You two made it."

Naruto and Kisame stopped and looked ahead seeing Kakuzu standing there patiently waiting. They noticed that he wasn't wearing his Akatsuki cloak, but just his mask, pants, and shirt.

Kisame stabbed Samehada in the ground and took off his own Akatsuki cloak letting it fall to the floor, "Looks like Akatsuki is hereby on standby." Naruto removed his cloak letting it fall to, now just wearing his orange hoodie. Kisame asked, "Where's Hidan?"

"He's being sent on underground missions. Hidan didn't want to be stuck here for three years." Kakuzu answered, he looked at Naruto and stood directly in front of him, "You ready?"

Naruto nodded, "I am. I've been waiting for this chance to test out my new abilities."

Kakuzu asked, "So you have the right ones?"

Naruto explained holding up an individual finger, "(Index) I obtained the Swift Release from our snow nin, (middle) my Lava Release came from a Kiri ANBU, (ring) Steel Release from Tekkou a Kumo nin, (pinky) and my final heart I obtained the Magnet Release from a Suna deserter."

Kisame added, "On top of your own Wind natured chakra." Kakuzu added, "Plus you'll need to master the other elements to use the advance natures. We'll begin with that step first and then we'll move onto the hard stuff."

"I was able to use Swift Release, but it drained chakra from me quickly." said Naruto.

"Most likely your chakra completed the other necessary component to use it. Be thankful that you have large chakra reserves." Kakuzu said to him.

Kisame stood side by side with Kakuzu both men staring down at him, "If you thought your training before was tough, you really haven't seen anything yet now that you're significantly stronger we don't have to go easier on you now. Let's go." Kisame turned around and walked into the fog, Kakuzu started to follow and he turned to Naruto asking, "You coming?"

"Hai…" Naruto took off his hoodie and dropped it to the floor as well and followed them into the fog.

* * *

* Konoha: Three Weeks After Haru's Departure *

Since Haru's departure the rest of the members of the Konoha 12 were told about Team 7 being take off active duty and they were informed about Haru leaving the village to train for three years. Since then everyone has been training to keep up with their friend.

Lee was at one of the training grounds saying to himself, "I will do five hundred squats, if I cannot do five hundred squats then I shall do seven hundred pushups… I won't fail next time, just wait Haru-chan I'll be strong too and I'll fight against you first!" Lee started picking up his speed.

On the other side was TenTen who had seven scrolls the length of her legs leaned up against a tree and six more were laying on the ground unraveled. She was sweating heavily and thought, 'She keeps getting stronger. I have to get stronger, she's one of the few people in this village I want to fight.' TenTen grabbed another scroll and leapt into the air trying out her new jutsu.

Neji wasn't far along he stood in the center of a giant imprinted circle caused by his clan's jutsu, he found out that Hinata was training with Kushina and it motivated him to get stronger. Neji did a palm thrust shouting, "Eight Trigrams Empty Palm!" He shot his right hand out and a small burst of wind pressure shot out, Neji was calm, "Hinata… If you won't give up, then I will not give up either." Neji pulled his hand back again shouting, "Eight Trigrams Empty Palm!"

Guy watched on with pride, "The power of youth is certainly amazing." Guy smirked to himself watching his team push themselves.

* Team 10 *

Asuma was helping Choji with his taijutsu. Choji used his clan's jutsu to make himself a full two feet taller than Asuma and wider, Asuma was trying to get him to remain that size for as long as possible while they fought. Choji tried punching down onto Asuma, but the jounin slid under Choji's legs and kicked him behind one of his knees bringing Choji to kneel. Asuma asked with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, "Hey Choji don't push it why don't we take a break?"

Choji shook his head, "No sensei let's continue." Choji stood up and took a fighting stance. Asuma held his hands up like a boxer, "Alright then show me what you've got."

Ino meanwhile was sitting under a tree with a stone bowl and numerous flowers, herbs, and a couple books. She kept browsing through and writing somethings down on a scroll that was close by whispering, "Okay so by adding this much it triggers a chakra disruption…"

Shikamaru watched her seeing how hard she was really trying, 'Loosing to Hinata hardened her resolve and finding out that Haru left for some hardcore training and that Sakura is training hard as well has made her want to improve.' he thought. Shikamaru looked down seeing numerous puzzles that Asuma left him, he sat down cross legged and moaned, "Troublesome, but it'll be more troublesome if she comes back and accuses me of being extra lazy. Ah man." Shikamaru reached out and effortlessly started putting the puzzles together one after another.

* Team 8 *

Kiba was standing on top of a pole that was ten feet off the ground with thirty more of them spread out about six feet, 'Gotta keep moving! Can't stop and rest for even a second!' Kiba leapt from pole to pole only allowed to stand on the top and not stay still for more than three seconds. He leapt from one to another using his hands and feet to keep him moving. He had on a weighted vest as well which made it difficult for him, but he fought through it, "I won't lose to her again!" he shouted trying to pick up his pace.

Akamaru meanwhile was on the ground running around the poles quickly while wearing a custom vest with weights in them to bring up his speed like Kiba.

Shino was fighting against a clone Kurenai summoned out trying to get his taijutsu better after his defeat to Masashi he's done nothing else except for train his body. Shino had been practicing his bug jutsu at home with his father.

Kurenai watched as her students improved quite well and was pleased with their determination.

"Rasengan!"

Her attention was brought to where Hinata was who stood surrounded by poles similar to the ones Kiba was using. Hinata had her byakugan activated and charged another rasengan in her hand and ran forward slamming it into one and quickly spun around using her clan's taijutsu foot movement to hit another in rapid succession, the rasengan disappeared in her right hand and she immediately charged another in her left this time jumping into the air and slamming the ball on the top of the pole shattering it as she went down.

Kurenai was pleased with Hinata's improvement most of all, she had a fire in her eyes that she hasn't seen before.

Hinata was breathing heavily, 'Not yet… I'm not there yet.' She held out her hand again making another one, 'This time I have to be faster!' she dashed forward doing it again. As she was ripping everything apart she thought, 'Just wait for me Naruto-kun!' shattering the poles to pieces.

* Team Ibiki *

Underground Konoha in the ANBU's personal training ground was Ibiki and his two man team. Takako and Shi were both wearing ANBU uniforms, Takako's hair was now shorter than it was before and Shi was a bit more bulkier than before as well. The two have been training everyday non stop under the ANBU and Ibiki.

Takako said, "Sensei we finished our mission." Ibiki responded, "That's good. I'm bringing in some of the elite ANBU to assist in your training."

"If it'll make us stronger and better us as shinobi then I'm fine with it." Takako told him, Shi nodded his head showing that he agreed.

Ibiki told the two, "We still have an assignment given to us by the Hokage. Do you two know what it is?"

Takako gripped her fist answering, "Capture Naruto Namikaze and bring him back to the village."

"And if he refuses?"

Shi looked up staring at his sensei eye to eye, "Eliminate him."

"Now that you two understand that mission I wonder if you'll pull through and go all out, because knowing that boy he will not give you an inch to retaliate." Ibiki motioned for them to follow, "We'll definitely be kicking your training up from now on and until me and Hokage see it you two aren't ANBU just yet, so let's fix that."

Takako and Shi silently followed their sensei deeper into the headquarters for their training.

* Kakashi/Sakura *

Kakashi was standing off to the side watching as Sakura dodge fast moving rocks the size of baseballs that were easily shredding through trees. He gave her permission to use anything she could to stop him from doing this, Kakashi leaned down and grabbed another one and tossed it fast doing his best not to hit her. A clone was close by Sakura to catch the rock incase it actually hit her.

Sakura dodged another two and kept trying to toss some shurikens at him, but Kakashi would barely turn his body to dodge them not even moving from his spot. She could see that he had a large pile of rocks stocked up next to him, she had to stop him before he was done with the pile. Sakura jumped behind a large boulder and started hearing the small rocks hit the boulder making extremely loud thuds.

'Damn this isn't getting me anywhere! If Haru was here then-' She stopped her thoughts and slumped a bit, 'Is that all? I depend on Haru to get me out of these kinds of situations?' She brought her knees to her chest and thought, 'I'm useless…' The sounds the boulder cracking got louder and louder. Sakura gripped her fist thinking about how hard everyone was trying after finding out that Haru left to get stronger, 'Haru would slap me if I didn't at least try!' she shouted in her head. Standing up she saw that the cracks were about to connect, 'Okay Sakura think… Kakashi-sensei knows what I'll do, but I'm trying to stop him… maybe…' A new idea came to her and she ran out from behind the boulder just as it shattered. Sakura ran at Kakashi head on wrapping a explosive tag around her kunai handle.

Kakashi sighed, 'Planning on hitting me with that? Predictable Sakura.' He was about to lightly toss the next rock to knock it out of her hand, but saw that she put the kunai in her mouth and activated a jutsu. Kakashi saw leaves swirl about around him, 'A genjutsu huh?' Kakashi dropped the rock and dispelled the genjutsu and he saw a kunai flying at him. Kakashi dodged it by tilting his head to the side, but the sound of a fuse caught his attention and he looked down at the pile of rocks seeing the kunai with the explosive tag in it. Kakashi smiled under his mask, 'You got it.'

The explosion wasn't to big, but it destroyed the rocks Kakashi was tossing at her. Sakura got a good distance away seeing that Kakashi emerged unharmed and lightly clapped, "I wonder how long it would've take Haru to guess to destroy the supply first? Good job Sakura-chan and you were getting faster just a tad."

"Arigatou sensei. What's next?" she asked happily. Kakashi said, "That's what I like to hear."

* Itachi/Sasuke *

Sasuke was cut up, bruised, and exhausted. His blue shirt had rips, tears, and some dry blood on it, the same with his pants. Sasuke had to survive Itachi's game, Itachi summoned out four clones that would hunt him down. Sasuke's job was to set traps and keep them a distance away from base camp simulating a mission where his team is discovered and it was his job to keep them safe.

If Sasuke is defeated or one clone invades base camp then it was all over and he'd need to start again. So far Sasuke was doing a good job at masking where the base camp was, laying traps for the clones was difficult, and staying hidden was another issue. Sasuke thought to himself, 'This is day three… Just five more hours. If I can pass this then he'll teach me our clan's fire jutsu and teach him the secrets behind the sharingan.

Not seeing or hearing anything right now he took a breather but remained ever vigilant. Since training he hasn't been getting easily upset and was now more aware of his surroundings and didn't rely on his sharingan that much. He kept shifting his gaze all over listening for even the slightest sound. This was his chance to get stronger and it might not be enough now, but he and Itachi were bonding better than they were before.

Sasuke heard a twig snap and instantly jumped up avoiding some kunai that flew passed him. Sasuke pulled out his kunai seeing the clone run out with it's tanto drawn, the gennin thought to himself, 'I won't fall behind. I can do this!' Sasuke rushed the clone to start the fight.

* * *

* Two Years Later: Twisting Mountains *

Naruto now taller than he was before and his hair was longer passing the base of his spine and his hair was ever wilder. He's never left the mountain since his training began two years ago and he has been training through hell to become stronger fighting against his trainers night and day. Naruto jumped in high in the air and did some handsigns and took in a deep breath thinking, 'Lava Style: Lava Bombs!' Naruto spat out four large balls made of lava that upon impact exploded. Naruto touched the ground and instantly vanished using his Swift Release no longer needing handsigns for this jutsu.

He reappeared on the canyon wall and summoned out a clone the real Naruto turned his body a completely black steel color and jumped down to the ground and saw Kisame charge at him, 'He avoided my lava jutsu and I was able to escape with my shadow flight jutsu, but his sword can't even hurt me.'

Kisame jumped out of the thick fog and tried slamming his sword down onto Naruto, but the blonde haired boy raised his arms into the air grabbing Samehada. Kisame let go of Samehada and reached out to grab Naruto, but he saw Naruto fly backward and upward toward the top of the mountain. The minute he was pulled back Naruto shouted, "Lava Style: Lava Bullets!" Naruto spat out individual lava balls the size of golfballs that traveled at amazing speeds at Kisame.

Kisame did handsigns of his own, "Water Style: High Pressured Cannon!" Kisame let a thin stream of water spray out from his mouth hitting the lava attacks kicking up small amounts of steam and destroyed the lava attacks. Out of the fog he saw a large bright light and when it came closer in view he saw a giant ball of fire. Kisame hit the ball of fire in the center making it explode knocking the fog away.

Naruto was now on the side of the mountain with his clone, "My Magnet jutsu works on my steel body as well." He could see now clearly without his byakugan now and Kisame picked up Samehada asking, "So Naruto what will you do now? How about showing me some of your Magnet Release?"

The clone disappeared and Naruto dispelled his steel body and took a deep inhale and opened his mouth and a shiny white substance came out of his mouth in a large portion. After Naruto was done spitting up the powdery substance he jumped down to be ground level with Kisame landing on the stuff he spat out, Kisame rushed at Naruto and swung Samehada to decapitate Naruto.

Mid-swing Naruto made a hand gesture with his right hand and the white powder shot up blocking the huge sword. Kisame jumped away and tossed Samehada in the air running through a few handsigns, "Water Style: Water Needles!" He shot out water senbons that traveled to fast for the untrained ninja eyes to see. Naruto made another hand motion and the white powder shot up blocking for Naruto and destroying the water senbons.

Kisame reached up in the air and grabbed hold of Samehada and shouted, "Next up your steel body!"

Naruto opened his mouth and the powder went back into his mouth and once it was all absorbed Naruto's body turned back to it's black steel color. Naruto rushed Kisame who set Samehada down. Naruto and Kisame engaged in a hand to hand combat and even after all this time it still amazed Naruto that Kisame still had this inhuman like strength, endurance, and high threshold for pain. Naruto tried to punch at Kisame, but the Kiri nin ducked and punched Naruto in his ribs and felt his knuckles crack.

Kisame jumped away and looked at his knuckles, 'That body of his is too powerful to get through by normal means. A-Ranked jutsu barely do anything, so relying on S-Ranked techniques are the only way to hurt him it seems.' He thought to himself, he glanced up at Naruto seeing that he hadn't attacked, 'He's almost entirely perfect. He can see in a complete 360˚, an near indestructible body, an enormous supply of chakra, a complete understanding of the ninja arts, very intelligent, and not afraid to go toe to toe with an S-Ranked criminal.'

Kisame relaxed telling Naruto, "You're getting better and better. I dare to say that you'll surpass me after this is all over. However you need to learn to successfully switch back and forth quickly between your Swift, Lava, Steel, and Magnet Releases once we start battling the jinchuriki. That's what we'll train on next." Kisame looked over his shoulder and saw Kakuzu was watching the whole time in the shadows.

Kakuzu stood up and was looking directly at Naruto, "And we'll start now!" He dashed at Naruto extremely quickly about to punch Naruto in his face. Naruto was still surprised by his speed but was able to use his swift release to appear behind him. A brief second later the Fire mask opened it's mouth engulfing Naruto in a blaze. The mask continued the heated attack.

Naruto suddenly appeared next to Kakuzu unharmed from the attack. Naruto and Kakuzu got into a taijutsu battle and Kakuzu quickly used his earth jutsu to harden his fist and tried to punch Naruto. He also used his steel jutsu, but since Naruto couldn't master only partial transformation his whole body transformed and he collided his fist with Kakuzu seeing his eye twitch if for a moment.

The threading in Kakuzu'z other arm became undone and his threads wrapped around Naruto and he began to toss him around knowing that this was useless since Naruto's 'Immovable Steel Jutsu' protected him against such an attack. He tossed Naruto high into the air and had his wind and fire mask appear out of his shoulders both the masks opening their mouths and firing out a combination of the Fire and Wind style attack creating a giant eruption of fire.

Naruto looked down seeing the huge blaze of fire coming toward him, Naruto quickly switched his chakra flow from his steel release and started sending the flow to his wind chakra. Doing the handsigns as quickly as he could Naruto shouted, "Wind Style: Akuma Fūjin!" Naruto took in a very strong breath and unleashed a huge wind chakra that pushed and twisted the fire and because of the extreme pressure Naruto was kept into the air as he continued.

Kakuzu saw the fire coming back down toward him and he used his wind mask to shoot another wind attack that created a wind tunnel and he watched the fire spiral around him instead of hitting.

Kisame meanwhile spat water onto the ground softening it up and dove into the ground and dug his way away from the battle. Naruto stopped his attack seeing the fire was now covering the ground completely except for the small area where Kakuzu was at. Naruto again switched the flow of chakra to his Swift heart and for this attack he needed to use two handsigns, "Swift Release: High Speed Dire Hit!"

Naruto disappeared quickly in mid air surprising Kakuzu who wasn't aware of Naruto being able to move that quickly mid air. He suddenly felt something hit him in the ribs and saw that Naruto landed a punch right in the right side of his ribs. The force and speed in which he was hit sent Kakuzu flying into the side of the mountain creating a giant crater. The fire still raged on around Naruto who was watching to see what would happen.

Kakuzu emerged from the crater seemingly unharmed. Kakuzu pulled his mask down and shouted, "Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"

Kisame pulled himself out of the ground a considerable distance away from the battle and suddenly felt the ground shake under him and he turned into the direction of where the battle was and he saw a large dome of wind ripping around the flames. Kisame watched in amusement as the wind shredded everything in it's path, 'Time to go back.' Kisame thought to himself and went back in the ground.

Kakuzu stood across from a cut up Naruto who tried to escape using his swift release, but he couldn't switch the flow of chakra quick enough and was engulfed in the wind with his body getting cut all over. Naruto held onto his left arm seeing huge gashes in it, threads shot out of Naruto's body and began closing up all the open wounds on his body. Kisame appeared out of the ground seeing both Kakuzu and Naruto standing there.

Kakuzu looked at Naruto saying, "You still haven't grasped the concept of switching between hearts quickly, however you have shown great talent in the jutsu. A bit more training and soon switching between hearts will come as second nature for you."

"I understand… Has Pain done what I requested?" Naruto asked. Kisame answered, "He's finished it not to long ago. We didn't tell you because we wanted your focus to be on the training instead. Now you're set, but you still have one more year of training to go and it's been decided that Orochimaru will be your first target instead of the Nine-Tails."

Kakuzu asked, "You don't have a problem with that right?"

"Not at all. Whatever the Akatsuki needs done I'll do." Naruto answered immediately, "What's next now?"

Kisame and Kakuzu looked at each other with Kakuzu saying, "Now you will continue to switch the flow of your chakra. Earlier Pain called for the two of us to do a mercenary mission, we'll be back within a month."

Naruto asked, "So just continue alone?"

The two nodded and Naruto asked, "I'm never alone… Zetsu is around here somewhere isn't he?"

Kisame said, "Not at the moment. Most likely he's looking for information on Orochimaru."

"So says you. Despite that I'll be a member soon information is withheld from me and I don't like it."

Kisame was now in front of Naruto saying, "The 'soon' part is the reason why. When you become a full member then you'll know the secrets." Kisame then turned away and started to leave first. Kakuzu told him, "There is a specific jutsu I want you to learn once I return."

Intrigued Naruto asked, "What kind of jutsu?"

"A powerful one. It's meant to fight against a specific jutsu, so no one else can know about this except for the two of us." Kakuzu explained. Naruto nodded, "Okay, then what about Kisame?"

"I can handle him. Just be ready in one month. Understand?" Kakuzu said to him and he saw Naruto nod, after that Kakuzu took his leave. After they left Naruto summoned out fifty clones and shouted to them all, "Come at me with everything you've got!"

The clones didn't hesitate and charged at him. Naruto brought his hands together to start his training to gain access to his hearts without needing to switch the flow of chakra.

* * *

* Two Months Later: Mount Myōboku *

Jiraiya watched from a distance seeing six red tails swing wildly in the air and an extremely large amount of chakra bursting forth from the location. Towering over him was Gamakichi making sure that nothing went wrong. Jiraiya smiled when he saw the six tails shrink and form a red/black ball, the Sannin ran over and saw the ball dissipate and in place was Haru.

Her hair was longer now and tied in a topknot that fell just below her butt, her outfit consisted of a short black tank top that showed her stomach, black/green combat camo pants, and she had cloth bandages that wrapped around mid shin, ankles, and instep leaving her heels and toes visible, and two scrolls strapped to each of her legs. She was on all fours and stood up stretching out her arms, "So how did I do Ero-Sennin?"

Jiraiya frowned, "I told you to stop calling me that."

She looked at him replying, "I'll stop calling you that when you stop peeping."

Gamabunta added, "That won't happen."

"Oi bunta you on her side!" Jiraiya shouted at him. Haru finished stretching asking him, "On a side note Ero-Sennin when will Arashi-nii be coming back?"

Jiraiya said to her, "Not for another week. Now how did it feel in your six tailed mode?"

"Didn't feel any different. I'm telling you that I can go all nine, so why won't you let me?" Haru asked putting her hands behind her head. Jiraiya answered, "Because your old man asked me not to push that. We may have barely tweaked the seal, but that's not to say that some of the Kyuubi's influence won't be transferred. We don't want to take that risk you possibly going berserk."

Haru pouted, "So far since we started this training I have not once lost control."

"Like I said we can't take that chance." Jiraiya repeated. Haru sighed then perked up asking him, "So more Sage training I presume?"

Jiraiya nodded, "Yup, I can't believe that you had the patience to sit on that spike tip."

"Hah jealous that Fukasaku-jii said that I was able to perfect it!" She mocked, a tick mark appeared on Jiraiya's head and he stared her down saying, "Oi don't get cocky you little blonde brat!"

Not to be stared down she shouted back with her own threatening stare, "Who are you calling brat, hentai!"

"Calm down you two."

Jiraiya and Haru looked to the source of the voice and saw Fukasaku standing there, "I swear you two are a pain sometimes." He waved over to Haru saying, "Come on it's time for your Frog Katas training."

Haru groaned and said, "Hai, hai, I'm coming. I'll be at the usual training site." After she left Fukasaku asked Jiraiya, "Any new news?"

Jiraiya sat down next to Fukasaku, "We just got some info not to long ago that Akatsuki is doing some real undercover work and little bits of information like where they recently hit."

"What about Minato-boy? Didn't he set up a unit to battle against the Akatsuki?"

"He did, but so far it's turned up nothing. Whoever is hiring the Akatsuki is going to great lengths so that no one finds out the ties and with how the Five Nations feel about the Akatsuki I'm sure that we won't find out that kind of info that easily." Jiraiya said to his master. They sat calmly for a moment up until Jiraiya said, "So far no info on Naruto at all. It's like he vanished. At the moment we can't really worry about him, Akatsuki has been silent for to long. Things will kick up again and when they do, things will get crazy."

Fukasaku replied, "Well if anyone can bring an end to this it's the Child of Prophecy. We just have to believe." Fukasaku started hopping away for Haru's training. Jiraiya looked up at Gamabunta, "You ready for when that day comes Gama?"

Gamabunta took a big inhale of his pipe and blew out a huge amount of smoke, "I am… The Great Toad Sage has never been wrong in his predictions, so why would that change now."

Jiraiya let out a chuckle, "Yeah I suppose you're right. All we can do is wait."

The two just sat there enjoying the little peace they can have until Akatsuki begins to move once again.

* * *

Okay there was some confusion in the last chapter about the Kiri kunoichi. Let me say that no that was not Mei Terumi, but one of her clansmen who had the unfortunate opportunity to run into both Naruto and Kisame, so Mei is alive and still Mizukage. And a few of my reviewers have asked me for a list of the hearts Naruto currently has, so look at the bottom and you'll see the list. Thank you for waiting and I'll update when I can. Ja Ne

Naruto's Hearts

Wind Heart: Naruto

Steel Heart: Tekkou (Kumo)

Magnet Heart: Unknown Suna Nuke-Nin

Lava Heart: Terumi Clan Member (Kiri)

Swift Heart: Enka (Yuki)


	34. Naruto's Power

Chapter 34: Naruto's Power

Okay here is the next chapter I hope you all like it.

* * *

* One Year Later: Twisting Mountains *

Naruto stood above a pool of water seeing his blonde locks floating in the water and a kunai in his right hand. He cut his hair to how it normally was he hadn't bothered to cut it up until now not really caring but now he felt lighter, looking at himself he'd say that he was at least 5'7'' now. He had lean muscle build with numerous stitchings crossing all over his body. Kisame and Kakuzu were standing on land waiting for Naruto to finish up. Looking at his back Naruto had four oni masks attached to his obi on his pants and not stitched into his back like how Kakuzu has his.

Turning to his teachers for the passed three years Naruto put his kunai back in his ninja pouch, "Now what?"

Kakuzu and Kisame both had in their hands their Akatsuki cloaks. The two put their cloaks back on and Kakuzu answered, "We're heading to our base in the Land of Waters and since time is precious right now the three of us are being summoned there." Naruto looked from Kakuzu to Kisame seeing that blank expression on his face meaning that he was talking to Pain. Kisame suddenly grinned, "We'll be leaving in a few seconds."

Naruto stood next to them and his vision was suddenly filled with smoke.

* * *

* Land of Waters: Akatsuki Base *

Naruto waved his hand to rid his vision of the smoke and was greeted to the sight of a dimly lit cave.

_"Welcome back."_

Naruto, Kakuzu, and Kisame looked in the direction of the voice seeing Pain's holographic image as well as Hidan himself standing there. Hidan was looking at Naruto, "The shrimp got taller it seems." Naruto didn't respond to his taunt.

Pain was looking at Naruto as well and despite how dimly lit the room was he could see it in Naruto's eyes, the lifeless expression a ninja should have. Pain turned to Hidan saying, _"Give it to him."_ Hidan made a gruff noise and walked over to Naruto and in his right hand was an Akatsuki cloak he tossed it to Naruto who caught it. Not waiting for permission Naruto put the cloak on and it was just his size. Pain said, _"Your ring put it back on."_

Naruto reached into his pants pocket and took out his Akatsuki ring and placed it on his right ring finger. Everyone stepped back and looked at their official member Naruto. Pain nodded saying, _"Welcome… As a full member of the Akatsuki I do expect you to follow orders without question and to fulfill your missions."_

"I will." Naruto responded.

_"Good. For your first mission I want you and Kisame to go to the Land of Rice. You both are to kill Orochimaru."_ Pain instructed, _"Do you think you can handle that Naruto?"_

"Yes I can. I might not look it, but I've learned a lot over the past three years and I was fully able to combine my skills when training with Kakuzu, my training in Konoha, and my training under Akatsuki. I'm ready for this." Naruto said to him. Pain smiled but you couldn't see it, _"Good. Kakuzu you and Hidan will find out as much information on the Nibi, Gobi and Nanabi as possible."_

Kakuzu asked, "What of the others."

Pain answered, _"Sasori and Deidara are already on the trail of the Ichibi and afterwards will attack the Sanbi. Right now they are finding out as much information as possible." _

"That sounds good so far. You still want me to capture the Yonbi and Hachibi?" Kisame asked him and received a nodded gesture. Pain looked at Naruto saying, _"You still know which one you are capturing right?"_

"Of course the Kyuubi. I will succeed in capturing it." said Naruto. Pain took a few steps back, _"Good now all of you go about your missions, I'll call for you when the sealing begins."_ Pain put his hands together and disappeared.

Kisame put his hand on Naruto's shoulder saying, "Let's go skin us a snake." Naruto agreed and took one look at Kakuzu.

The two ninjas stared at each other and Kakuzu said, "We're equals now. You don't need my permission anymore." Naruto didn't say anything and instead turned around and walked away with Kisame following after him. Kakuzu looked at Hidan telling him, "Let's go do our job now."

"Sure why not." Hidan replied leaving as well.

* * *

* Two Days Later: Land of Rice *

Naruto and Kisame trekked from Water Country to Rice Country to do their mission, along the way they stopped at a town and Naruto picked up an orange hoodie like the one he had before just a darker shade. Pain had sent them a telepathic link saying that his spy within Orochimaru's group had told him where Orochimaru would be at since his village is actually bases hidden across Rice Country and in other countries. Although it was definite that he'd be here at his base in the west.

Kisame and Naruto stopped and heard Pain's voice, "Sasori said that it's around that area."

"Good we can finally take him out once and for all." Kisame said to him. The link was cut and Kisame asked, "Naruto you see anything?" Naruto looked down at the ground and touched the dirt, "I can see the base beneath us. The entrance is hidden to our right beyond those trees."

"How far down?"

Naruto answered, "Twenty feet… There are more hallways and floors beneath that. There is a room however that I can't see into though."

"That must be where he is hiding in. How many are we dealing with?"

"I see about more than fifty wearing Oto headbands… some one-hundred plus prisoners… This is something."

"What?"

Naruto stood up, "Orochimaru isn't in that room that I can't see into. He's with the rest of the prisoners he's talking to them."

Kisame asked, "Can you read what he's saying?"

Naruto nodded and started to repeat what Orochimaru was saying and was describing what was happening, "'Let us see which of you will make a perfect host for the Sanbi'… The prisoners are backing away in fear of him. 'How about this. Whoever wins can chose whether to be the vessel for the Sanbi or myself. I shall leave that for you to decide.' There is a man off to the side wearing glasses. He's opening up the cells."

Kisame grinned, "He must be trying to use that Reanimation Jutsu."

"What is that?"

"It allows him to transfer his soul into another body to give him the sense of immortality, but he has to do this every three years. Sasori had informed us that he switched over to a new one three years ago so it would make sense that he'd need to do it again." Kisame explained to him, "Alright from we also know Orochimaru is in a weakened state when this will take place. This makes things a lot easier the longer we keep him from transferring bodies the weaker he'll be."

Naruto asked him, "So what's the plan?"

Kisame grinned, "The moment we step into Orochimaru's lair he'll know we're here. There is a real reason why he's here so we just have to figure out why and keep him here for as long as possible. Ready?"

Naruto held out his right arm and rolled up the sleeve revealing a tattoo, placing his hand over it he unsealed the Nuibari, "I'm ready."

* Orochimaru's Base *

Orochimaru and Kabuto were walking through one of the hallways after visiting the prisoners. Orochimaru told Kabuto, "We'll be leaving this base soon. Make sure that everything is ready we have overstayed here."

Kabuto shook his head, "Hai Lord Orochimaru." The two stopped when they felt the base shake Kabuto grasped the wall to hold his balance while Orochimaru stood still like nothing happened. He was looking up at the ceiling, "Who dares attack my base?" Orochimaru looked at Kabuto telling him, "Go and take the Sound Five to take care of these nuisances."

Kabuto asked unsure, "Kimimaro as well? Is that wise he still isn't well." Orochimaru only glared at Kabuto to which the medic-nin replied, "I'll fetch him as well then." Kabuto left to go get the Sound Five.

Naruto and Kisame were at the top level a few traps were going off, but Naruto could see the traps and told Kisame how to avoid them. Naruto told Kisame, "We've got company."

Kisame and Naruto both had their swords ready and heard footsteps heading in their direction, soon they could see five Sound ninjas running toward them. Naruto started off by tossing Nuibari at one of the ninjas, all five avoided the sword and continued rushing, but unbeknownst to them the sword changed direction and shot back hitting one of the men in the back causing him to scream.

The other four stopped and looked back to late to see a sword flying around the room hitting all of them in the legs, arms, stomach, and other parts of their bodies. Naruto had a thread leading from under his cloak sleeve to his sword and was sewing them together and once he was done Nuibari flew right back to him. Naruto caught the sword with his left hand and tugged on the string with his right pulling the five bodies into a ball of mangled bodies.

Kisame smiled seeing Naruto's brutality of leaving the men alive, but how he stitched their bodies together made it impossible for the men to grab any weapons to strike. Kisame heard the echos of more footsteps coming behind them, he held out Samehada and said, "You kids think you can beat me? Think again!"

Kabuto along with the Sound Four that he had taken with him to Iwa were with him along with another who had on the same attire as the Sound Four. He was fairly tall, pale skin, green eyes with a red marking under them, two red dots on his forehead, long shoulder white hair with two bangs framing the sides of his face. They felt the base shake again prompting everyone to stop. Kabuto said calmly, "Things are getting hectic up there. Let's hurry up."

Kimimaro said to the Sound Four, "In my absence you will listen to Kabuto. Show no mercy and kill the intruders." The Sound Four nodded having no choice but to approve of his orders. They all turned to run down the hallway to get to the upper levels, but suddenly the ceiling above them collapsed and all six of them jumped back seeing the floor above them had crumbled away with a large amount of water falling through as well. Keeping their distance they saw someone standing over a dead Sound ninja.

Kabuto saw the black cloak with the red cloud design and said to the Sound Five, "It's the Akatsuki."

Tayuya shouted, "Shit it's them again!" Everyone got on guard except for Kimimaro who examined the ninja before them.

"Well, well, look at what we have here. Six kids." Stepping into what little light was available they saw the intruder. Both Kimimaro and Kabuto knew who he was because of Orochimaru. Kisame held out his massive sword asking, "I'll only ask this once… Where is Orochimaru?"

Sakon shouted at him, "You'll have to go through us first!" Before the battle could begin they saw someone jump down next to Kisame wearing the same thing as him. Everyone noticed that this Akatsuki member was younger than the ones they've seen before. Naruto observed the new ninjas looking all over their bodies to see what kind of weapons they have. He didn't see any weapons except for the guy with glasses and the girl. However the ones who wore identical clothing had another thing in common.

"Oi Kisame… What are those markings on their bodies?" Naruto asked silently.

Kisame asked back, "Which ones have it?"

"The five who are dressed the same."

Kisame whispered, "Orochimaru had this juinjutsu made. From what we gathered it varies between each one inflicted with it and they have two stages which can give them a more monstrous appearance than myself."

"If that is even possible." Naruto responded.

Jirobo charged first and attempted to strike at Naruto. Kisame sat back and watched as the giant's fist collided with head only making Naruto move back an inch.

Kimimaro replied, "Idiot."

Kisame replied, "Oh looks like big man wants the first shot at you."

Kidomaru saw Jirobo shaking and called out, "Hey what's wrong with you?"

Jirobo jumped back and held onto his right hand, "My knuckles are broken." The group was shocked at what he just told them. "What you fuckin' broke your fist on him!" Tayuya shouted at him. Looking up at the blonde he saw that his face was a blackish color and turned back to normal slowly. Jirobo thought, 'What the hell?'

Naruto watched as Jirobo backed away slowly, "What's the matter? Lose your nerve?" Kisame remarked, "This is a cramped area." He put Samehada back on his back and the minute he brought his hands together Kimimaro aimed his right index finger at Kisame shooting out a small white pellet from his finger tip. Naruto quickly reached his hand out and grabbed the white pellet at a fast speed surprising the white haired ninja as well as the others.

Naruto activated his steel release on his hand and used his byakugan to see the bones in the man's right hand shift around. Naruto held the pellet in between his index and thumb examining it, "He fights using his bones."

Kisame grinned showing his sharpened teeth, "Oh so he's from the Kaguya clan." That made Kimimaro cringe a bit, "They were a clan of Kiri with a unique kekkei genkai even amongst it's clansmen, they felt that they had something to prove and they attacked all Kiri ninjas."

"What was the result?" asked Naruto. Kisame glanced at Naruto answering, "The complete eradication of the clan, but it seems that we have one lone survivor." Kimimaro dashed at them to kill them, a sharp bone shot out of the palm of his right hand. Naruto held out Nuibari and blocked Kimimaro from hitting Kisame clashing his sword against Kimimaro's bone blade. Kisame finished his jutsu shouting, "Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage!" Kisame slammed his arms into the ground with enough force to destroy the floor they were all standing on. Once the ground was gone Naruto dropped Nuibari and pulled his arms back saying aloud, "Wind Style: High Pressure Air Tunnel!" Naruto opened his hands and shot his hands forward blasting an extremely high pressured wind tunnel that blasted through everything making a wide blast radius easily tearing through the walls and ceiling.

As they fell Kisame grabbed Naruto and aimed him upward shouting, "Do it again!"

"Wind Style: High Pressure Air Tunnel!" Naruto pulled his arms back and shot them out again unleashing the same jutsu destroying the entire upper levels with his jutsu. Kabuto and the others were blasted away by the jutsu and were all buried beneath the rubble of the base.

Now where you would see a ceiling instead you could see a wide open sky. Jirobo appeared out of the rubble, with triangular chains going all around his body after punching his way out of the rubble Tayuya crawled out of the hole with black hooking markings on her body, "Fuck what was that! That guy had a powerful wind attack like that?" They both heard a noise and looked to their left seeing a huge block of concrete being moved out of the way and they saw Kidomaru who used his legs to move it and like the other two he had black swirl markings on him.

Kidomaru called out, "You guys alright!"

Jirobo gave him a thumbs up with his left hand asking him, "We're fine. Where's Kabuto and Kimimaro?" He saw Kidomaru shrug his shoulders not knowing where they were.

"Weaklings."

The three heard that familiar voice that made them stiffen up with fear. Orochimaru walked in between them looking up at where his ceiling used to be seeing the two Akatsuki ninjas standing on the ground level looking down at them. Grinning Orochimaru called out, "It's been a long time Kisame."

Kisame said, "It has been. As a former Akatsuki you should know how we view traitors."

"I've been expecting Akatsuki to come for me, I just assumed that it would've been Sasori." Orochimaru said. His eyes drifted to his partner and immediately took note of his spiky blonde hair and his visible blue eye, "So that must be Naruto Namikaze."

Orochimaru's followers were shocked that this was the ninja that joined Akatsuki at a young age. Orochimaru asked, "He must be strong to be your partner."

Kisame smiled again showing his teeth, "He's been tasked with killing you." Orochimaru continued starring at Naruto really observing him and jumped up out of the base and was ten feet away from the two amused at Kisame's words that Naruto would be the one to kill him. "Kukukuku, you're telling me that out of all the Akatsuki ninjas they send the youngest one?" said Orochimaru.

It happened too fast for even the Sannin to see, Naruto appeared next to Orochimaru and kicked him in the side making fly back and skid across the ground. Orochimaru was shocked and stood back up seeing Naruto standing where he was just a few seconds ago, 'What was that? He moved almost instantaneously.'

Orochimaru looked at Kisame who was standing off to the side it was clear that neither was he getting involved in this fight, but he also wasn't kidding about Naruto being the one assigned to kill him, 'Don't screw with me!' He thought to himself. Naruto had Nuibari placed in a sheath hidden under his cloak and he opened his cloak up taking his sword out.

Orochimaru opened his mouth and a sword handle came out of his mouth, taking the sword by the handle he pulled a jian sword from his mouth. Naruto just watched as Orochimaru aimed the blade at him smiling, "Let's see if your sword can stand up against mine."

Naruto replied, "Let's see then." Naruto closed the distance first and and Kisame just saw sparks flying from the two swords colliding with each other.

Watching carefully he looked over the the large hole in the ground seeing Kidomaru, Jirobo, and Tayuya jump out. Kisame immediately moved in front of them saying, "Sorry if you want to fight. It's gonna be against me."

Naruto stepped back and dodged all of Orochimaru's sword attacks by leaning away from each swing. Orochimaru thought to himself, 'He's fast, very fast to avoid my attacks with such ease.' Naruto watched him closely seeing how he wielded the sword effortlessly with his right hand and was analyzing how wide he swings and at the angles and dodged accordingly. Naruto jumped back distancing himself a bit from the snake Sannin.

Orochimaru snickered at him mocking, "Kukuku, Akatsuki seems to be running out of capable ninjas if all you can do is avoid."

"I was just seeing how you move so far. Now that I know what I need for now I can use my jutsu." Naruto said, he held out his sword and whispered, "Swift Style: Countless Blades." Naruto vanished and numerous flashes of Naruto appeared around Orochimaru and deep gashes appeared all around him blood flying everywhere. Only five seconds passed and Naruto reappeared back in the same spot he was before pointing Nuibari at Orochimaru with blood running down the length of the blade.

Orochimaru stood motionless and ignored the pain coursing through his body.

Examining the wounds on his body Orochimaru asked, "So why didn't you go for the killing blow? Are you looking down on me?" Orochimaru said calmly, Naruto didn't respond and Orochimaru opened his mouth and a Naruto saw a hand emerge from his mouth and soon a whole body came out of Orochimaru's mouth and Naruto saw that it was Orochimaru. The original body became nothing but a husk, he now had not a single slash mark on his body.

"I'll give it to you that you are indeed fast." Orochimaru picked up his sword and disappeared only to reappear behind Naruto saying, "I'm faster." He swung his sword horizontal to decapitate Naruto, he saw Naruto's head fly off from his body. Naruto's body then turned into a hunk of wood as well as the head. Orochimaru heard something behind them and felt a tip of a sword being pointed at his neck. Looking back he saw Naruto was behind him, "What did you say about being faster?"

Naruto heard movement behind him and vanished and the moment he was gone Orochimaru moved from his spot as well. Kimimaro had appeared and tried to slash at Naruto with a bone sword.

Kimimaro ran over to Orochimaru, "Orochimaru-sama are you okay?"

"Kimimaro-kun I need you to stay close by." Orochimaru said to him, he looked at his right hand seeing the skin on it slowly falling off. Before they realized it Naruto appeared in-between them kicking Kimimaro in his face and slashing Orochimaru from his left shoulder down to his left hip. Orochimaru stumbled back ignoring the pain while Kimimaro flew back from being kicked.

Naruto tossed Nuibari in the air doing a number of handsigns, "Lava Style: Lava Bullets!" He spat out small marble sized lava balls that shooting at Orochimaru. The Sannin avoided a few of them, but one hit him in his right thigh not passing all the way through burning his muscles and bone. This one made Orochimaru wince in pain, Naruto saw this and caught Nuibari in the air and dashed at Orochimaru doing numerous slashes.

Orochimaru tried avoiding the attacks, but each time he stepped back to avoid a burning pain coursed through his leg. Naruto grabbed Orochimaru by his right shoulder and a black blade shot out of Orochimaru's shoulder.

Orochimaru's sword floated in the air and shot at Naruto. Orochimaru was using his left hand to direct the sword thinking that he'd kill him with this, but Naruto ducked at the last second and Orochimaru stopped it just inches away from face. Naruto used Nuibari and stabbed Orochimaru in his right thigh leaving the tip of the sword in his leg. The two stood glaring at one another and Kusanagi fell to the ground.

Wincing in pain Naruto said, "I'm mixing in my Lava chakra to heat up my blade I'll be destroying your body little by little." Orochimaru glared at Naruto saying, "You're definitely strong. However I'm not done yet!" Orochimaru opened his mouth and two snakes shot out of his mouth and attacked Naruto, the blonde nin jumped back pulling his sword from Orochimaru's leg and his bladed hand out of his shoulder.

And using both he slashed and cut the snakes in half. Orochimaru saw the black blade coming out of a hole in Naruto's left palm, 'I see now. His body is like Kakuzu and he hid a black blade inside his forearm as a sneak attack.' Holding his shoulder that was stabbed with that weapon, "He was syphoning my chakra as well. I should've at least guessed that, I'm sure that he trained with Kisame.'

Naruto watched as Orochimaru's body was shaking a bit from all the damage it took in a row and it made Naruto wonder why he didn't just shed his skin like he did before, but Naruto later saw with his eyes a huge decrease in his chakra, 'I see now.'

Taking a step forward Naruto spun around and blocked an oncoming attack from Kimimaro. The minute Naruto blocked an attack by Kimimaro and saw the markings that covered his whole body, Kimimaro shouted, "Ukon! Get Orochimaru-sama out of here!"

Naruto saw with his byakugan a ninja with two heads one coming out of the back of his neck, he had black blotches all over his body he had grabbed Orochimaru and started running away. Naruto backed away from Kimimaro and vanished quickly this caused Kimimaro to chase after him knowing that he was going after Orochimaru.

Sakon had Orochimaru's arm around his shoulder carrying him away, but he saw something flash in front of them and he stopped seeing Naruto standing in front of them aiming Nuibari at them, "I'm not gonna let you get away that easily. Looks like we have more visitors." Jirobo ran up behind Naruto trying to punch him in the back of his head, not finding this amusing Naruto turned around quickly and turned his body to the side and slashed Jirobo in his right side just beneath his floating ribs. Jirobo stumbled and Naruto spun around him and slashed him on his back just beneath his shoulder blade making the giant fall to his knees.

Naruto asked, "Where are you planning on running to now?"

Kimimaro appeared in front of Sakon and Orochimaru holding his bone sword up in defense, Naruto saw the other two members appear prompting him to scan for Kisame and he found him fighting against some strange creatures that appeared out of the giant hole they made, 'Must be Orochimaru's experiments.'

"Sound Four! Activate the barrier and get Orochimaru-sama out of here!" shouted Kimimaro, he jumped at Naruto the two clashing weapons. The Sound Four moved into position even the wounded Jirobo they moved around Orochimaru they formed the 'Tiger' hand seal and Naruto watched as a large violet box formed around them and Orochimaru.

Orochimaru cursed, 'He was too strong to take on in my condition.' His feet started to catch fire that traveled up his legs, 'Next time boy it won't be that easy.' After his body was completely enveloped in fire the barrier dropped around the Sound Four who were getting ready to back up Kimimaro.

After a brief exchange between Naruto and Kimimaro the bone nin jumped away from Naruto and joined the Sound Four, "Five against one. The odds are in our favor."

Naruto took off his cloak and then his orange hoodie letting both fall to the ground, "Not quite." Naruto's back started to get bigger and suddenly four black threaded masses separated from him. Kimimaro, Tayuya, Jirobo, Kidomaru, and Sakon saw the four black masses take shape into human shapes of different sizes.

The first mask to take shape was like a man of 7'1'', very muscular and it had a grayish white Daikijin oni mask with the kanji for 'Speed' on it's forehead. The second one was smaller at least 5'9'' of a lean muscle build wearing a reddish orange Jyoki oni mask with 'Destruction' written in kaki on it's forehead.

The third on was 4'7'' the build of a 12 year old child, a blackish gray Bannai oni mask with 'Defense' written on the forehead. The final one was a tall slim 6'11'' wearing a red/blue/gray Ondekomen oni mask with 'Attraction' written on it's forehead.

All four threaded monsters took a stand behind Naruto ready for combat, "You said that there are five of you, but in actuality isn't the one with two heads just two separate people? That would make this fight six against five."

As Naruto said the one with two heads separated into two both were identical twins with their hairstyle being just slightly different. Kimimaro told all of them, "Release into your second stages."

All five looked at him shocked that he wanted them to play their trump cards that quickly. Not ones to argue with Kimimaro they activated the seals on their bodies. Naruto saw as the markings on their bodies began to spread and turn their entire bodies black and change their skin color to dark grey, red, brown with them either growing, horns, their hair would grow and spike, growing tails and an extra eye.

Observing them now they really did have a more monstrous appearance than Kisame. Naruto could see that each of their chakra had erupted, but at the same time he could see an irregularity with their dark chakra, but not afraid Naruto aimed his nuibari at them taunting, "Who's first."

Jirobo's body seemed to have healed to a certain degree as he was standing and his wounds didn't seem to affect him. He was the first to charge at Naruto trying to punch him with his left hand this time, but he was stopped when the little Bannai appeared between them and blocked the punch with ease. Jirobo thought, 'It's like punching a steel wall!' He heard a giggle come from the mask as it pushed his fist in the air and landed a perfectly placed punch into his gut knocking all the air out of him and leaning him forward. The Bannai mask followed through with a uppercut with his left knocking the giant into the air sending him away from the area and followed after him.

Kidomaru spat out some gold gunk that formed into a bow as well as spitting out an arrow made of the same substance. Tayuya took out her flute spinning it around her fingers, "This asshole thinks he's the strongest. We'll prove him wrong!"

Naruto aimed his left hand out and the giant Daikijin started walking and the tall Jyoki moved as well. Leaving Naruto with the Ondekomen to stay by his side. Kidomaru was going to shoot at Naruto, but a black mass blurred in front of him and he was hit by something large in his face. Kimimaro and the others saw the giant Daikijin was standing where Kidomaru was just at with it's fist extended releasing a lion like growl.

'Something that big moved that quickly?' Thought Kimimaro.

Something bright caught all of their attention as red lava bombs came flying their way. Each of them avoided the attacks leaping into the air seeing that it was that Jyoki mask that attacked it let out a child like whine. Tayuya brought her flute to her lips to cast Naruto into a genjutsu but the Daikijin appeared behind her and punched her in the stomach sending her flying into the ground. The twins Sakon and Ukon charged at Naruto Sakon pulling his left arm back that was armored with spikes and Ukon pulled back his right arm that was armored and spiked as well.

They were going to try and take out Naruto first. When they got close the Ondekomen moved in front of Naruto and powdered platinum poured out of the mask's eyes, mouth, and ears deciding to take out the obstacle first they were going to hit in the face, but the large amount of powder shot up and blocked their punches hardening into a wall. Leaving the brothers stunned. The Ondekomen sounded like a screeching noise.

'It blocked our punches!' Thought Ukon.

Sakon thought, 'That's not possible! These curse marks increase our strength nothing except the Rashomon!'

Spikes shot out from the barely grazing them as they jumped back. Naruto and the Ondekomen walked out from around the wall and the platinum wall turned back to powder.

Kimimaro glared at Naruto thinking, 'What the hell is he?'

Kisame meanwhile had cut down all of the prisoners that tried to escape blood everywhere except for his own clothing. "I don't feel his chakra anymore he must've gotten away. Looks like the gaki was able to scare him off." said Kisame. He heard something behind him and he looked over his shoulder and saw the sound ninja Kabuto who was smiling at the blue skinned man. Kisame grinned, "I hope you'll give me a better fight then these boys here."

Kabuto adjusted his glasses replying, "That won't be necessary, I'm Sasori-sama's spy for the Akatsuki." Kisame asked, "What's the password then I'm sure that he told you that?"

"The Scorpion in the Rain." Kabuto answered quickly.

Kisame asked next, "Orochimaru ran didn't he?"

"He did. I was watching the battle from a safe distance and with the damage his body took he's most likely going into isolation before moving to his base in Kusagakure." Kabuto informed, "Please pass this information on to Sasori-sama."

"One more thing. Why was he going after the biju?"

Kabuto turned to leave showing his back to Kisame, "He was planning on attacking Akatsuki with all his might. The new Sanbi jinchuriki was going to be a tool for that. That is all I know." Kabuto whispered a goodbye and left. Kisame could still hear the destruction of the battle Naruto was causing thinking, 'He must have used the Four Oni otherwise there wouldn't be this much commotion.' He decided to wait for the outcome of the battle before they head out.

* * *

* Land of Beasts *

Haru wearing the same outfit a year ago was wielding the Kubikiribōchō and was fighting against Jiraiya. Haru tossed the giant sword at Jiraiya, but the Sannin jumped above it. Haru charged at Jiraiya and pulled out six shurikens from her pouch and tossed them at Jiraiya while he was still in mid air.

Jiraiya did his handsigns and shouted, "Needle Jizo!" his hair grew and surrounded him making it hardened and spiked and it successfully knocked the shurikens away. Haru took out a kunai and blew wind infused chakra on it giving it the length of a sword, she attacked the needled encased barrier and slashed it in half finding only a log was inside. She jumped in the air avoiding the hand that shot out trying to grab her foot, Haru summoned out a clone and they did the process of creating the rasengan in her right hand. The rasengan formed, but it got even bigger and needed to be held in Haru's right hand and the clone's left hand.

As they fell both Haru and the clone shouted, "Giant Ball Rasengan!"

They slammed the giant blue sphere into the dirt destroying a large portion of the earth creating a large explosion in the process. Haru and the clone were looking around and they saw Jiraiya climb out of the ground and Haru took out more shurikens telling her clone, "Get ready!" Haru threw the shurikens, then doing some handsigns shouting, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" when the shurikens multiplied the clone blew out a wind chakra that surrounded the shurikens. Haru shouted the new jutsu, "Enhanced Wind Mass Shuriken Jutsu!" The hundreds of shurikens increased their range and damage.

Jiraiya turned around and all the shurikens were slicing through him cutting off limbs eventually Jiraiya erupted into a puff of smoke revealing it to be a shadow clone. Jiraiya appeared behind Haru trying to kick Haru in the head, but the clone intervened and blocked the kick. Haru looked behind and quickly slapped an explosive tag on the clone jumping away. The clone held onto Jiraiya's leg and Haru activated the explosive tag seeing the clone explode.

Haru ran around the destroyed field and found the Kubikiribōchō laying on the ground, picking it up she remained quiet listening for any sound that could give Jiraiya away. She heard a rock move behind her and spun around swinging the Kubikiribōchō seeing Jiraiya duck under the sword and he landed a punch into Haru's stomach, but Haru disappeared into a puff of smoke. Jiraiya smiled thinking, 'She has the timing of her clones down and replacing herself with them perfectly.'

Haru watched from one of the rocks that were protruding from the ground. She was in a meditating position remaining perfectly still, but listened out for Jiraiya incase he found her. Focusing sage chakra she gathered as much as she needed, reddish markings over her top eyelids, when she opened her eyes turned yellow and her iris' became horizontal black bars. Standing up she saw that Jiraiya noticed her and he looked a bit worried. Jumping from her spot down at Jiraiya she utilized her Frog Katas that she learned in her sage training and Jiraiya was evading her attacks at a much wider angle being able to see the chakra that surrounded her fists and legs. Jiraiya didn't notice it, but Haru was close enough to her sword and used her left foot to kick up the handle. Grabbing the sword she spun around giving herself more force behind her horizontal swing.

Jiraiya blocked by grabbing the blade in the hole near the top of the blade stopping it. To this day it still amazed Haru that Jiraiya had this inhuman amount of strength being able to stop her already powerful attack without going into sage mode himself with pure muscle power. Jiraiya used his strength tossing the sword in the air while Haru still held onto the handle and he kicked Haru in her stomach sending her flying back.

Haru stabbed the sword in the ground stopping her from going far, Haru balanced herself horizontally on the pummel of the sword with her right palm. Using her left hand she took out a kunai and tossed it at Jiraiya making him jump out of the way of the fast moving weapon. Haru got off the sword and pulled it out of the ground and attacked Jiraiya swinging the blade horizontally.

Jiraiya ducked avoiding the sword, but Haru overshot the sing so it landed behind her and she used the force of the swing to allow her to kick Jiraiya in his face sending the unfortunate Sannin flying much farther than he tried to send Haru. Remembering that Jiraiya had told her not to hold back she followed holding the sword over her right shoulder to finish the fight. She saw him barely getting back up and she swung the sword down onto him and he turned into a block of wood that the sword was stuck in.

Jiraiya appeared behind Haru saying, "Alright let's stop here."

Haru put her foot on the wood and pushed down on it to pull her sword from it, "About time. We've going at this for about two hours now and I'm exhausted."

Jiraiya mocked, "Exhausted? You? That's a laugh." Haru's eyes turned back to their regular color and the markings on her eyes disappeared. She stabbed the sword in the ground and leaned on it asking, "When are we heading home?"

Smiling Jiraiya told him, "We're going home today."

Haru smiled and jumped in the air, "Yes! Finally we get to go home! First thing I am going to do when I get home I'm getting me some Ichiraku ramen!" Jiraiya pointed over beyond some trees, "Then go pack your things. We leave in a few hours and it's going to be a two day trip."

"Alright!" She started running to where Jiraiya set up a toad house for them to stay in while they trained in Beast Country. He could see the light in her eyes explode when he told her that they were going home and he was ready to go home as well… He really needed to catch up on his 'research' he snickered to himself thinking about it. He started walking to the toad house to prepare to leave for home as well. Both really wanted to get home.

* * *

* Two Hours Later: Land of Rice *

The Sound Five plus Ukon were all in their normal forms, their clothes ripped and torn, their bodies were bloodied, cut, and bruised. All six of them were crucified hanging up on some trees, their hands were stitched into the trees letting their feet dangle. Tayuya, Kidomaru, and Jirobo's eyes were open, but the light was gone from them indicating their death. Kimimaro, Sakon, and Ukon were alive, but barely.

Naruto and his four monsters stood beneath them looking up. A few of the creatures masks were broken or cracked, but other than that they didn't suffer to much damage. Kisame was sitting on a rock asking Naruto, "You planning on taking the Kaguya kid's heart?"

"No, it seems that he has a disease that is eating away at him. I don't know the extent of it and I don't want it to slow me down." Naruto told him, "He'll die on his own in moments. He was coughing up blood the entire fight, I'm sure he would've put up a better fight if he wasn't so sick. The others couldn't match up against my masks." Naruto glanced at Ukon and Sakon, "However their kekkei genkai intrigues me."

Kisame knew what that meant and he did a few handsigns and spat out a large pool of water and used shape manipulation to keep it at least three feet tall and seven feet wide. Naruto bit his thumb and did few handsigns and placed his palm on the water's surface whispering, "Summoning Jutsu!" Smoke erupted in the water and a brown banded bamboo shark swam in the water about 3'5'' it was a complete brown color.

Naruto asked, "Fuka can you house my new hearts for me?"

Fuka swam in a particular pattern and Naruto nodded, "Understood." Naruto walked away from the water and toward the two unconscious brothers, Naruto told Jyoki and Ondekomen, "Take out their hearts."

Jyoki climbed up the tree to Sakon and Ondekomen climbed up to Ukon. They stabbed their arms into their chests and Naruto could hear them screaming in agony as their hearts were quickly ripped from their bodies. The two thread monsters detached their right arms and let them fall, Naruto caught the black balled up threads and tossed them into the pool. Fuka swam up to the first ball and it opened it's mouth wide enough to eat the first one and then again to eat the second one with no change in it's body mass. After eating the objects the shark disappeared from the pool and Kisame released his water jutsu.

Kisame commented, "Fuka has the ability of Space manipulation focusing it all in it's stomach. While I was gone how many hearts did you house in him?"

Naruto answered him, "Not counting those two new ones, I have seven normal ones that Kakuzu gave me." Naruto faced his back to his creatures and the stitches on his back opened up and the four monsters bodies went into Naruto's back with the masks falling to the ground. Picking up the masks, there were hooks inside of the masks that he used to put on the back of his pants waist band. Deciding to repair them later.

"Should we salvage the base?" Naruto asked Kisame.

Kisame stood up, "Might as well. The snake left before he could get rid of some things." They walked back to the base, Naruto picked up his hoodie and Akatsuki cloak that he had dropped and put them back on. They made their way into the base seeing numerous escape tunnels incase the base was discovered. Naruto scanned the base being able to see a few of the documents left laying around. All they were about were just about his experimentations as well as a few ninjas that he was targeting aside from that nothing on ninjutsu. That left the room that he couldn't see through.

The two walked deep into the base and found a large metal double door with a snake engraved on them. Kisame said, "It must have a trap on it. What do you see?"

Naruto looked at the door seeing the seal that bordered the door, "It's sealed most likely to activate keeping it locked and if forced open it… that this part of the seal here (points to a spot) show explosive seal markings." Studying the seal more he ran his finger down another spot and found, "Only Orochimaru can open this."

Kisame said, "We might as well destroy this." He pulled out Samehada ready to hit it, but Naruto held his hand out, "No wait. Let me try this." Standing in front of the door Naruto grabbed the handles and slowly opened the doors without any trouble at all. Causing Kisame to ask, "How did you do that?"

Pointing to his arm Naruto said, "When I was fighting with Orochimaru I drained him of some of his chakra and some of his blood is on my blade still. It was a gamble but I bet that I could get through with only those two things." Kisame grinned, "I'm taking you with me to the casino one of these days." They walked in the dimly lit room seeing numerous seals written on the wall which was canceling out Naruto's sight. There were three desks in the room all three had papers scattered on them.

Kisame walked up to one of the desks looking at the papers for a sealing method he was developing as well as an extraction seal. A picture of a number of candidates for the new Sanbi jailer and he even pinpointed the location of the Sanbi in Kirigakure.

While Kisame was looking through that bit of information Naruto moved to one desk and saw a list of names of deceased ninjas. Most of whom Naruto heard of, but a few included the names of dead Kages, famous ninjas, and ninjas with unique kekkei genkai. So far from what he could see there were over twenty five ninjas he if he understood this

correctly were to be revived using a jutsu. Also there was a hit list of ninjas Orochimaru planned to kill only to revive.

Naruto scanned with the byakugan the third table seeing a jutsu labeled Edo Tensei Kinjutsu. Naruto made sure that Kisame wasn't looking and he slipped out a thread coming from his right sleeve wrapping around the scroll and quietly opening the threads in his right forearm, he took the scroll and hid it into his open arm. Naruto played it off telling Kisame, "Look at these."

Kisame turned around and walked over to the desk Naruto was looking at seeing all the names of ninjas he knew or knew of. The names that caught his attention were ones from his own village, "The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, my Mizukage, and as well as were their bodies are located." Examining the table more he saw explanations as to why he wanted them. The two looked at the papers more and more and one caught Naruto's attention. One that Orochimaru placed a question by.

Reading it Naruto thought, 'Gold and Silver Brothers, Ginkaku and Kinkaku. Possible relation to the Sage of Six Paths?' Looking on more Naruto saw a list of their accomplishments as well as weapons they used. Kisame walked over the third table seeing battle plans that had a few Akatsuki bases spread out over the ninja world with plans on how to hit the bases.

Kisame walked away telling Naruto, "Let's go. Torch this place we can't let anyone find these out."

Agreeing Naruto and Kisame walked out of the room and Naruto did a few handsigns thinking, 'Lava Style: Eruption!' Naruto spat out a ball of lava the size of an elephant that exploded in the room. The two Akatsuki would've been caught in it, but Naruto used his Swift nature to escape taking Kisame with him. Leaving the base there wasn't much else they would've needed. Naruto asked, "All those plans to attack the Akatsuki. How was he planning on pulling off this revival?"

Kisame didn't answer, "We're leaving Rice Country. Orochimaru escaped, but the fact that you made him retreat is a feat few can do. We'll tell Pain about this and see what he wants us to do from there. Let's go." Naruto flexed his right arm feeling the scroll, this was going to be something that he was going to do and was going to leave the Akatsuki in the dark about it.

They did however stop at where Kimimaro still hanged seeing that he was awake, but because he spent almost all of his chakra in the battle he couldn't escape the threads that stitched his hands into the tree. Naruto asked, "What do we do with him?"

Kisame told Naruto, "He's useless to us. No point in trying to interrogate him, so just finish him off." Kisame started walking away and Naruto had Nuibari strapped to his side and took it out and began walking up the tree asking him, "Any last words?"

Kimimaro looked at Naruto with near lifeless eyes, "I have none. I am a broken tool that is no longer of use to Orochimaru-sama. I deserve death." Naruto aimed the sword at his heart and replied, "You die with regret? I truly pity you." and stabbed him in the chest seeing him wince, but only for a second as his lifeless body hung there. Jumping off the tree Naruto quickly followed after Kisame.

* * *

* Next Day: Akatsuki Hideout *

Naruto and Kisame made it to one of the hideouts spread out across the nations looking at the hologram of Pain.

Pain said summarizing what he was just told, _"So Orochimaru was going to attack the Akatsuki and was planning on taking one of the biju to create a jinchuriki."_ Pain then asked, _"And Sasori's informant didn't say where he would be hiding at?"_

Kisame shook his head, "No only that Orochimaru will go into hiding. Are you sure we can trust this boy? I know that he's Sasori's underling, but you know that there is a limit to how much you should trust a guy like that." Pain answered, _"At the moment we have no choice. We don't know where all his bases are and from what it seems to me is that he's been looking for us and knows were a lot of our bases are."_

Naruto asked Pain, "So what do we do now?"

Pain looked at Naruto telling him, _"Since we don't know where Orochimaru ran off to nor will we until our spy tells us you two will do your mission. Naruto go and capture the Kyuubi and once you're done Kisame you'll capture the Yonbi, so go to Konoha now."_

Kisame and Naruto nodded understanding their mission and Pain's hologram disappeared. Kisame asked Naruto, "Ready to go to Konoha?"

Naruto calmly responded, "I am. How far away are we from Konoha?"

"It's about a days travel. We should be there sometime early in the morning." Kisame answered. Naruto replied, "Sounds good. Then let's go." The two Akatsuki nins walked out of the base and headed south toward Konoha to capture the Kyuubi jinchuriki.

* * *

So as you have read Naruto and Kisame are now heading to Konoha. The next chapter will be updated possibly toward the end of the month it depends on how my work schedule is lookin. Anyway thank you for your patience and I'll work on the next chapter when I find the time.

**Naruto's Masked Monsters are Japanese oni masks and the abilites they have are listed:**

Swift Release: Daikijin: Gray White: Makes a lion Roar when about to attack the tallest of the monsters

Steel Release: Bannai: Black Gray: Makes a child like Laugh when about to attack. The smallest of the monsters

Lava Release: Jyoki: Reddish Orange : Makes a animal Growl when it is ready to attack. The third tallest of the monsters

Magnet Release: Ondekomen: Red, Blue, Gray : Makes a loud Screech noise when it's prepared to attack. the Second tallest of the monsters


	35. Return to Konoha

Chapter 35: Return to Konoha

Sakura, Neji, Lee, TenTen, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino all have their same attire as in the Manga/Anime cannon except for Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata. Sorry for the late update.

* * *

* Land of Fire Border *

Naruto and Kisame were about to cross the border leading into the Land of Fire. They decided to stick to the main road since Naruto saw no signs of ninjas or any samurai who were patrolling at the moment. Kisame asked Naruto, "Any idea of how we're going to get in without being detected?" Naruto answered his partner, "Only high ranked ninjas know how to move in and out of Konoha secretly. Kakuzu and Hidan could only linger in the village for so long before they had to leave, however if seal away our chakra and sneak in with a large crowd, maybe that can give us the advantage."

"Easier said than done in my case. Even if we seal off our large chakra levels my appearance doesn't guarantee that we'd get in." Kisame noted to his blue skin, gils, and teeth. Naruto thought about how he could get Kisame into the village, "I might have an idea. It'll be a big gamble, however with my luck we'll win for sure."

Kisame grinned, "Well then let's hear what it is."

* Konohagakure: West Gate *

Three people were walking up to the village, they were Suna ninjas in fact they were the Sand Siblings Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. Temari was wearing mesh armour underneath a sleeveless purple dress with a purple blouse over it, a purple sash around her waist, hand warmers and leg guards along with a red scroll on her back. Kankuro had a black fit kimono, a turquoise colored sash, the paint on his face changed considerably, and his hood was now a black cap that covered his whole head and frames around his face, he also carried a brown box container that housed his puppets.

Gaara had a reddish brown coat under a single strap type of armor, black overalls under his coat, black sandals, and had his gourd on his back, but it had a kind of shine to it. As they walked into the village they were greeted by-

"Hello I'm Kushina Namikaze I'll be taking you to the Hokage's tower." Kushina stood in front of them with a dark orange kimono with her clan's symbol on her back and two talisman earrings. The siblings bowed to her politely and Temari asked, "Arigatou Namikaze-sama, but if you don't mind me asking. Why is it that someone of your stature is meeting us instead of someone like an assistant to the Hokage?"

Kushina replied, "I was bored. My husband told me that you were all coming so I decided to come greet you myself. Besides I didn't come alone." She moved out of the way and they saw Hinata standing next to her, Hinata let her hair grow longer with two strands framing the sides of her face, and she was wearing a lavender color zipper hoodie with a flower design on the right shoulder, black pants with pockets close to the knees, and a sword strapped diagonally across her back.

Hinata waved, "Hello, how was your trip?"

Kankuro answered, "Not any different from all the other times we had to come here." Temari elbowed her brother in his side whispering, "Answer a bit more respectful." Kankuro rubbed his side. Kushina said, "Well let's take this to my husband's office."

"Namikaze-sama…"

Kushina looked at Gaara who had his arms crossed with that same stare he had three years ago, "Is Haru back from her training mission?"

Grinning inwardly Kushina replied, "Um no not yet. She should be back sometime within a day or so. Why?"

"Out of curiosity." Gaara replied. Hinata was smiling knowing what Gaara's real answer was, but he kept it to himself instead. Kushina clapped her hands, "Okay then let's get going." The group agreed and followed her to the Hokage's tower. As they walked Hinata stopped suddenly and turned her heading looking at the handle of her sword, it was but a second that it happened.

"Hinata-chan?"

Hinata looked back at Kushina, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro who were starring at her, "Is everything okay?" Kushina asked. Hinata touched the handle of the sword handle replying, "I-I have to go meet TenTen I'll see you later sensei!" she spun around and started running toward the weapons shop. The four stood confused as to what had her act like that.

"Let's go. She's fine I think she just forgot something." Kushina told them and directed them to the tower, but spared a glance to the where she ran off to worried about her.

* Same Time: Third Training Ground *

At the same time near the water that flowed by three wooden posts something popped out of the water and it was Gamakichi who had an 'x' shaped scar on his forehead, looking around making sure it was clear he opened his mouth and an arm shot out of his mouth and then a whole body it was Naruto crawling away from Gamakichi, after he was out Kisame came out next. Naruto said, "It worked, we can remove the seals now." Naruto held out his right arm that had a seal tag on it and ripped it off, but then placed a different type of seal on his left arm quickly.

Kisame looked at Gamakichi saying, "Open your mouth!"

"You coulda asked nicer bub." Gamakichi said, he opened his mouth and the handle for Samehada came out and Kisame grabbed the handle and pulled his bandaged up sword out of Gamakichi's mouth. He took off the seal that he placed over his headband and the one on Samehada's handle.

Naruto asked, "Gamakichi you're saying that Haru should be back in a day?"

"That's right. I over heard Pa talk about it to another one of the toads." Gamakichi said looking at Naruto. Kisame put his sword back on his back saying, "We'll just have to lay low until she get's here. Any suggestions?"

Naruto thought about possible locations for them to hide out at and one place he thought would be good, "Let's hide out at the old Konoha Military Police station. Not even the two remaining Uchihas go there. It'd be a perfect hideout for the moment."

"Good. Now you'll have to show me where it is."

Agreeing Naruto told Gamakichi to go back home, once he was gone Naruto and Kisame left heading to the old Uchiha police station.

* Shinoda Kengeki Ninja Shop *

Jia Li was working the front register just finishing up an order for some kunai, shuriken, and some makibishi spikes along with some other basic ninja tools. After closing the register she heard the wind chime move and looked up, "Hello welcome to our shop." Jia Li saw that it was Hinata and said, "Oh Hinata-chan what can I do for you?"

Hinata took off her sword and placed it on the counter, "Jia Li-san I'd like to know about this sword in further detail."

Picking up the sword and removing it from the sheath Jia Li looked at it, "Well my husband made it from a special chakra metal that isn't used in most weapons. More or less it's basis is meant for elemental use so that it doesn't damage the blade they are suppose to handle the sudden change in nature chakra if it switches from like let's say wind to lightning." She put the sword back down.

"No I mean whats the relationship between the two Black Mambas? I was told that they have a link or something?" Hinata said shaking her head.

Putting her finger to her chin she thought about the twin swords, "Now that you mention it." She then pointed to the sword, "When we first gave these to Naruto we had him bond his chakra to these blades, nothing special really except that if he lost one of them then the other would be able to find the other kind of like a tuning fork they would react when one is close by."

Hinata asked, "So if it shakes that means that the other is close?" Jia Li nodded and Hinata asked, "When they are close will it move a lot more?"

"Well since they have Naruto's chakra in them they are suppose to move a lot more if been separated for long periods of time and the range in which they could 'sense' each other strengthens." Jia Li said making the quote action with her fingers. Hinata looked at the sword and asked, "Is there any chance that the other would do the same as this one?"

"It be impossible if it couldn't. However their connection could be blocked by simple suppression seals. Hinata-chan are you asking all of these for a reason?" Jia Li asked.

Hinata picked up the sword and put it back on her back, "Curious, I'm not entirely sure though right now. It shook for a second and then stopped I don't know if it was how I moved and that was how it happened or what. I think I'm just over thinking this."

"It happens. Anything else you'd like to know?"

Hinata asked, "No nothing else thank you you've helped me a lot."

Jia Li again thought about it, "Anytime. Comeback whenever you'd like."

"Arigatou." Hinata said bowing her head to her and left the shop. Once outside Hinata ran up one of the wooden poles and stood atop it looking at the village, she took out the Black Mamba and aimed it at the north gate and slowly turned into a full 360˚ and the sword didn't even twitch. She sighed and put the sword back in it's sheath and jumped down back to the ground below, "I was sure that it moved." She first headed to go and meet up with Kushina at the tower, she thought to herself 'What if it really did react?' the whole walk to the tower.

* Hokage Tower *

Minato was seated at his desk with his wife standing by him, both were looking at the Sand Siblings who just delivered an important letter to him from the Kazekage. Minato told them, "Well this is an important request. I'll permit it, I'll gladly send a construction crew to help with development of the village I'd like to ask though that you three leave when they do."

Temari bowed to him, "Arigatou Hokage-sama. At the moment our village has almost expended our building supplies, the Kazekage will be grateful."

"It isn't any trouble at all. After all our villages are allies. How long will you be staying in Konoha?" Minato asked. Kankuro answered, "We don't have to leave for another two days. If that is alright with you Hokage-sama?"

Minato shook his head, "No not at all. There is a hotel in the shopping district that I'm sure you all will like."

"Arigatou Hokage-sama."

The three said respectfully to him. Minato said, "Please enjoy yourselves and if you'll excuse me I still have a lot of work to do." The three siblings understood and excused themselves from the room, right as the door opened Hinata was just about to grasp the door handle. Kushina called out, "How did the meeting with TenTen go?"

"She wasn't there I spoke with Jia-Li instead." Hinata answered. Minato asked, "Oh Hinata-chan might I ask a favor if you're not busy at the moment?" Hinata looked at Minato ready to hear him out, "Our guests here, do you mind showing them the hotel in the shopping district?"

"Of course Hokage-sama." Hinata said, then she looked at the Suna nins saying, "This way." The four ninjas proceeded to leave the room. Kushina and Minato were left in the room by themselves and she asked, "Haru is suppose to be back tomorrow right?"

Minato nodded, "Yes, tomorrow morning… After three years we'll get to see her it's been awhile." he looked at his wife seeing the sad expression on her face and he knew what she was thinking. Standing up he hugged her tightly, "I know I miss him too. These last few years have been difficult, he's painted a target on himself angering the other nations by attacking and killing ninjas. I did all I could…"

Kushina looked up at him, "That's all I could ask… Naruto is a ninja he can handle himself. I wish I knew what was going through his head." Minato felt her put her face in his chest and he brushed her hair with his hand, "I wish I did too."

* Konoha Main Gate: 7:00 a.m. *

Standing at the front gates were many ninjas awaiting the arrival of Haru and Jiraiya after their three year absence. Standing at the gate was Minato, Kushina, Hinata, Arashi, and Hana they were the first ones to show up and wait for her. Hinata said out loud, "I wonder what Haru looks like now?"

"Arashi-kun told me what she looks like when he was last with her, he also said that she's real strong now." Hana told her, she had her arms linked in Arashi's right arm. Minato replied, "I'd rather see what she looks like with my own eyes." Kushina agreed and so did Hinata. Minato was the first to react as he looked over to their right seeing four others come their way. It was Kakashi, Sakura, Itachi and Sasuke making their way over.

Sasuke was wearing the Konoha ninja attire like Kakashi except he had his clan's symbol on the biceps of his shirt and his headband tied around his head. Sakura was walking close by him waving to them first, "Ohayou gozaimasu."

Kushina, Hinata, and Hana all replied at the same time, "Ohayou." Kakashi walked up to Minato asking, "Do you still want me to go through with this when she returns?"

Minato nodded, "Hai you'll get to test out yourself how strong she's gotten. You've already pushed yourself against Sasuke and Sasuke, that leaves only Haru." Understanding Kakashi agreed, "Hai, I'll do what I must."

Sakura and Sasuke walked over to Hinata to talk with her. Hinata asked the two, "Are you guys ready to have your team back together?"

Sasuke nodded, "It's been a long time since Team 7 has been together I'm looking forward to the kind of missions we'll be able to do now." Sakura agreed with him, "Yeah this is actually very exciting. It's been awhile since we've hung out too Hinata-chan."

"I know. I've been busy with training between my team and Kushina-sensei."

As they all talked they suddenly heard another voice from behind them, "Excuse me." Everyone turned seeing Gaara standing there with his arms crossed, "Mind if I stay as well?"

Kushina waved her hand replying, "No not at all Gaara-kun." Sasuke just stared at the the red headed ninja after hearing that he was going to be waiting with them. Gaara stood over next to the Hokage and his wife waiting to see the arrival of Haru. They all just stood their watching the road for what seemed like an eternity with nothing coming into view. Hinata activated her byakugan and looked down the road with almost nothing in sight… that is until she saw a lone figure running down the road very quickly, "I see someone."

Everyone tensed up and continued looking down the road and they did see a small speck in the distance growing bigger. Finally being able to see who it was a bit more clearly they saw an older Haru running their way waving her hand at them shouting, "Hey guys! I'm home!"

Kushina teared up first seeing her only daughter after three years the two kunoichi ran to meet each other halfway and embraced in a hug. Haru whispered, "Hi kaa-san." After their hug Kushina brushed some of her daughter's strands of hair behind her ear, "You've grown to a beautiful young lady."

Haru blushed responding, "Thanks kaa-san."

"You certainly have."

Both looked and saw Minato standing there both wondering when he appeared. Haru broke from her mother and hugged her father, "It's good to see you tou-san." Minato held her out arms length looking at her outfit, "You couldn't find a better shirt to wear than that one?"

Haru groaned, "Dad not now." Minato gave her a smile and the three walked back to the group. Haru saw both Hinata and Sakura and ran up to them, "Hey Sakura-chan! Hinata-chan!" Hinata and Sakura ran over to their friend and they hugged each other. Sakura said, "Haru-chan you look great."

"So do the both of you." Haru replied. Hinata asked, "How was the travel back?"

Haru looked at Hinata answering, "Felt like it would be forever until I got back home." Hana walked up to Haru and the two immediately embraced in a hug. Arashi walked up to her having seen her about a couple months ago still gave her a welcome home eyes drifted to Kakashi and Itachi were standing off to the side and her eyes locked onto Sasuke and actually found him though she thought, 'A bit attractive.', she shook that thought from her head, "Hey Sasuke long time no see."

Sasuke smirked at her, "I know three years. You look good Haru." Haru blushed a bit and muttered, "Same to you." Looking away from him she saw Gaara was standing off to the side and her entire face turned red, "G-Gaara! W-What are you doing here!"

Gaara calmly replied, "Me and my siblings are here on a mission. I just thought I'd come by and see if you were really coming back today." He walked up to her and said, "It's good to see you."

Haru nervously rubbed the back of her head realizing the way she had greeted him, "Oh yeah it's good to see you too Gaara-kun."

Minato asked, "Where's Jiraiya?"

Haru looked at her father telling him, "He was walking to slow so I just took off running to get here first." Minato nodded understanding, "Well then he'll catch up when he can, but for now I need you to do something."

"What is it tou-san?"

"We'll need you to take a test to see how far you've come in your training. You'll be going into a one on one fight."

Haru seemed very eager to get started, "Who will I be going up against?"

"That would be me.", Haru turned around seeing Kakashi pointing to himself, "I've already fought against Sasuke and Sakura individually and now you're the only one left." Kakashi seemed to be smiling under his mask. Haru punched her right fist into her left hand grinning, "I've been waiting for this for a long time now. This will be payback for all those humiliating losses three years ago."

Kushina said, "You're fired up for this aren't you Haru-chan?"

"I sure am kaa-san." Haru told her. Minato made a small chuckle and said, "Well then let's not waste anytime and get going." Everyone agreed and started walking off, but Arashi stopped for a moment after getting the feeling that someone was watching them. Looking around he didn't see anything out of place. Itachi saw his rival stop asking, "Hey you alright?"

Arashi told him, "I'm fine… Just being paranoid I guess." he joined the others to the training ground to watch the Kakashi vs Haru match. A couple buildings away Naruto and Kisame were both standing up on one of the roofs and Naruto was observing them all with his byakugan getting a good look at the faces of three years ago taking an especially long look at one kunoichi in particular.

"Hey how does it look?" Kisame asked breaking Naruto's concentration. "To many to fight through. We don't stand a chance if we rush in and my brother already suspects something is amiss."

Kisame cursed under his breath, "Damn, let's fall back to the abandoned police station and come up with a better plan." Naruto agreed and they jumped away from the scene to come up with a different plan.

* Thirty Minutes Later: Konoha Military Police Station *

Naruto and Kisame snuck in like they've done before undetected by any Konoha ninja. Kisame sat down on one of the desks looking at Naruto who was peeking out of one of the partially boarded up windows, "We're outmatched here, with the number of talent that we have to face it is impossible for us to capture the Kyuubi jailor. Did we overlook something, maybe capturing her during a mission?" Kisame noticed a look in Naruto's visible eye seeing uncertainty, "Hey what is it?"

"We've been followed…"

Kisame's eyes widened and he walked up next to Naruto asking, "You sure?"

Naruto was checking with his byakugan, but wasn't seeing anything that would back up his claim, "About 74% sure that we're being followed." Kisame looked out the window carefully and he had that uneasy feeling. He told Naruto, "74% is good enough. Now let's draw out our stalker."

"Wait…" Kisame stopped movement and watched Naruto who had his hand held out signaling him to stay still, "I saw something for a second… Someone definitely knows that we're here. If we run we'll draw out attention."

Kisame argued, "And if we stay he might get reinforcements, how the hell did we get found out that easily?" Kisame put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Actually if we use our new jutsu we'll be able to buy time for an escape."

"We have no other choice. What do you suggest retreat and then activate our jutsu?" Naruto asked. Kisame nodded, "Whoever this guy is he obviously has talent. The fact that you didn't see him in your byakugan and that we didn't sense him until now speaks volumes about someone."

"On three then?" Naruto asked. Kisame nodded and he counted down using his fingers and mouthed, "One… Two…. Three!"

The two ran out the back of the building as quickly as possible and Naruto saw their tracker and was surprised at who it was, "Jiraiya is tailing us!"

Kisame was also surprised, "That settles it. We'll have to use it to slow him down." They ran on top of the buildings with Kisame following Naruto since he could see more of the village and different ways they could at least distance themselves from Jiraiya. The whole way Kisame doubted that they would be able to defeat the Sannin even two against two, if it did come down to it then Kisame would need to go all out against him.

Naruto brought his hands together and started doing handsigns a lot of them and Kisame made the dragon handsign doing all this as they ran. Naruto and Kisame ran continuously and the blonde haired ninja noticed with his byakugan that they had more visitors who were more than likely ninjas who saw Jiraiya running at a hurried paced. Naruto told Kisame, "We're coming up to a clearing that we can use our jutsu. If we make it about fifty yards that'll buy us two and a half hours of time."

"Yeah I know, we'll only have one shot at this. Let's make it count." Kisame grinned, "I'm actually excited about this." They came to a clearing that looked like it was going to be used to add more buildings to expand the village, when they landed Naruto was still doing handsigns and Kisame still had the dragon handsign neither one stopping what they were doing.

Jiraiya along with a few other ANBU ninjas landed about ten yards away from the two Akatsuki ninjas looking at their backs. Jiraiya was smiling a little calling out, "You two won't be capturing Haru today. I'm going to make sure of that."

Kisame looked over his shoulder and said casually, "Heh, so one of the legendary Sannin has chased us down. Jiraiya the Toad Sage."

"That's right nice to make your acquaintance, you're Kisame Hoshigaki right?" Jiraiya asked. Kisame faced him and the sannin saw the dragon handsign that he was doing which put not only Jiraiya on alert but the other ANBU as well. Jiraiya's eyes drifted to the second Akatsuki ninja and although he could only see his back he saw the spiky blonde hairs and he could tell who that was, "Naruto… That's you isn't it?" Jiraiya noticed the slightest movements of his shoulders, he was obviously doing something.

"Naruto…" Jiraiya called out again. Naruto turned around slowly and the two looked for a second and Naruto shot his right arm to Kisame to grab. Jiraiya and the ANBU rushed the two and Kisame reached out grabbed Naruto's hand with his right, then Kisame slammed his hand on the ground and a large seal appeared. Jiraiya was close enough and tried to grab Naruto, but the two vanished extremely quickly. The last thing the Sannin and the ANBU saw was a flash of gold and blue.

They all opened their eyes after shielding them from the blinding light they looked around and Jiraiya cursed, "Damn we're trapped in a barrier ninjutsu."

Naruto and Kisame were standing on a partly built building, the barrier was a dome shaped barrier with a fifty yard diameter and in the center of it was a sealing formula that spanned out into a spiral formation touching the edges of the large circle. Jiraiya sat down thinking to himself, 'One used the necessary handsigns and the other gathered the chakra to use the jutsu. I got careless.' He looked up and saw that the two Akatsuki ninjas were standing by the dome and that they were talking to each other and could barely make out what they were saying.

"Let's hurry up and get out of here before more get here." Kisame told Naruto who agreed with him. Naruto stopped and grabbed Kisame shouting, "Look out!" Naruto grabbed Kisame by the collar and lifted him in the air effortlessly making two kunai that would've hit Kisame miss and hit the barrier. The minute the kunai hit the barrier electricity shot out. Naruto let go of Kisame and the Kiri nin maneuvered in the air seeing senbon needles heading his way, he quickly grabbed Samehada and knocked the needles away. He landed next to Naruto and they saw three more people appear before them.

"It's been a long time Naruto."

Naruto recognized the leader, "Ibiki-sensei, it has been a long time." Naruto saw the second male who was a couple inches shorter than Ibiki and a kunoichi both had ANBU gear on and masks. The kunoichi had a badger mask on and the other man had ferret mask, grinning slightly Naruto called out, "Hello there Takako-chan, Shi-san."

The two removed their masks and Naruto saw that they looked relatively the same except that Shi was sporting a scar going down from his right temple down to his jaw. Both had serious looks on their faces as they looked at their old teammate. Kisame grinned wider showing his sharpened teeth, "Well, well if it isn't Ibiki Morino how long has it been?"

Ibiki looked at Kisame remembering when the two first encountered each other and he slaughtered ninjas from his own village to protect it's cipher codes, "Kisame Hoshigaki, maybe we'll settle what happened today." Ibiki told his team, "You two go after Naruto, I'll handle Hoshigaki."

The two nodded and Takako called out, "I hope you've enjoyed the last three years freedom, because it's all coming to an end today."

"You always talked big. Quite frankly I was actually hoping to see you two again after three years." Naruto said to them both.

"Yeah and why's that?" Takako called out. Naruto vanished alerting both of them and they heard his voice behind them, "To show you the gap in our strength."

Shi spun around to hit Naruto with a spinning back fist, Naruto ducked under the attack and was about to punch him in the ribs. Something wrapped around his wrist and he saw that it was a whip he looked down the way seeing that Takako was using it she pulled on the whip making Naruto lose his balance and allowed Shi to land a perfectly hit punch into Naruto's jaw sending him flying.

Takako dropped her whip and did a few handsigns shouting, "Fire Style: Great Fireball!" she blew out a large ball of fire that headed toward Naruto. Standing up Naruto saw the large ball of fire heading his way and he did some handsigns and thinking, 'Lava Style: Lava Bomb.' He spat out a ball of lava about the size of a basketball. The two moves collided, but the lava ball hit the giant ball of fire and destroyed it and kept going.

Takako and Shi saw the magma ball and jumped out of the way in time and once it hit the ground it blew up. Shi saw Naruto running their way and he met Naruto head on and they started fighting hand to hand neither one landing a hit right now, Takako ran up behind Naruto to trying and strike him from behind, but Naruto ducked her punch and was now fighting off both of them with little effort.

Ibiki watched on from a distance seeing them fight and Kisame was doing the same, "Heh, looks like your ANBU aren't as strong as I would've thought. The gaki has fought tougher, your two will have to do better." Ibiki peered over at Kisame and then back to his students who didn't look like they were gaining an edge. Also watching on was Jiraiya behind the barrier, "Damn there's nothing I can do." He looked at the ground seeing the symbols on it, "This barrier was well thought out."

Naruto backed away from his former teammates and held his arms out letting his threads fly out, Takako and Shi attempted to avoid getting caught and both took out their kunai and slashed at the threads. Takako didn't see the one thread that wrapped around her ankle, "What the!" distracted more threads latched onto her.

"Takako!" Shi shouted still avoiding to get caught. Naruto replied, "It's over for you." Takako started feeling weak and fell to one knee.

Shi saw her fall calling out, "What's wrong!"

Takako could feel her strength leave her, "I don't know… I think he's stealing my chakra." Naruto stood there keeping Takako held down with his left handed threads and his right handed threads were still trying to capture Shi who was doing a good job at evading. Shi slashed a few more threads away and made a break to Takako channeling wind chakra through his kunai he tried expanding the length of it and cut the threads that had captured Takako. He grabbed onto her and jumped away from Naruto's threads.

Once distanced enough Naruto retracted the threads back into his body, "If this is all you two have to offer than I am sorely disappointed." Shi handed Takako his kunai and said, "Stay here I'll handle it from here."

"Shi no!" she tried to argue and stand, but fell back to her knees, 'Damn he took a lot of chakra from me.'

Shi shook his head, "You're no use to me in this condition. If you want to do anything use your sound jutsu when I signal you to." Takako gritted her teeth and remained silent which Shi took it as that she understood and agreed. Shi stepped up and talked calmly, "Our mission is to capture you Naruto, but should you resist we've been ordered to kill you if you further resist. You and I both know though that you won't give yourself up."

Naruto said to him, "Then no more talk." Naruto took out Nuibari that was strapped to his side inside of his cloak, "Let's see what you really got."

Shi bit his thumbs and smeared blood on his forearms and then did some handsigns. Smoke surrounded his arms and Naruto saw that Shi now had some silver arm bracers and gloves with metal studs on the knuckles, "I don't like to use these, but I have no other choice." Dashing at Naruto he swung at him and Naruto evaded and swung his sword at Shi in retaliation. Sparks flew each time Naruto's sword and the metal on Shi's bracers clashed, Shi moved a lot faster than from when Naruto remembered.

Hearing some noise off to the side Naruto glanced that way seeing Kisame and Ibiki had started their battle and Ibiki was using a metal bo staff to fight. Not once during the fight did Naruto forget about Jiraiya and the other ANBU, they really needed to end this and escape otherwise things will really get complicated. Naruto moved away from Shi just to distance himself to prepare for what was next.

"Sorry Shi, but Kisame and myself are pressed for time." Naruto told him, he stabbed his sword in the ground and opened up his cloak and lifted up the hem to his hoodie revealing the stitches across his stomach. Shi saw the stitches open up and a black mass came out of him, Naruto grabbed the mask that was attached to his sash and dropped it into it. He watched as it slowly took form.

Kisame and Ibiki were locked with Samehada pushing against Ibiki's bo staff. They took a moment and saw the black mass, Kisame grinned, "Naruto's getting serious now."

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted bringing his hands together, a clone merged next to Naruto and immediately removed it's cloak and hoodie. Shi watched carefully as the clone walked up to the black mass and saw the stitches on the clone open up and the black mass went into the clone and the mask stuck to the clone's face and it was stitched into it. The Ondekomen was now in the body of a clone which Shi wondered what would happen next.

Naruto told the Ondekomen, "Take him down." Ondekomen let the platinum powder pour out of the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears at the feet.

Kisame thought to himself still watching on, 'The only difference between the Four Oni when they don't have a body like that is that, now they have the byakugan, they can think thanks to the clone, and their bodies are much tougher now.' Kisame looked and saw Ibiki was shocked after seeing what happened and Kisame kicked the jounin in the gut making him stumble back.

Ondekomen made some hand motions making the powder move about and started to float into two separate spheres. Naruto watched on thinking, 'I'll have to thank Sasori next time for teaching me how to add shape manipulation to the powder.' The platinum powder took shape into a giant hammer that was bigger than the clone and the second form became a giant ring that hovered around the Ondekomen about waist level.

Shi watched this display of jutsu and wondered, 'Is this really what the Akatsuki are?'

Ondekomen rose it's hand and the giant hammer lifted in the air and quickly slammed down trying to crush Shi who was lucky enough to escape getting flattened. Takako saw that Naruto was watching calmly from a distance as the clone would do the fighting. Not contempt with that she stood up despite feeling weak, she took out a harmonica and focused her chakra toward Naruto who seemed unaware of her. Thinking in her head as she played, 'Crushing of the Sense!'

Naruto heard the music and looked over at Takako seeing her play, suddenly Naruto's body felt a bit limp, 'She's caught me in a jutsu.' He tried to move, but his body wasn't responding and he fell to his knees, 'This is meant to keep me down and Shi is supposed to finish me off. However…"

Ondekomen changed the powder from a hammer into a whip ripping all throughout the ground distancing him further and further. Takako kept playing with her right hand as best she could, but the music started to flutter a bit to much lessening the jutsu and she quickly tossed a shuriken at Naruto stopping her jutsu. Naruto got the feeling in his body again, but not enough and he rose his left arm and let the kunai stab into it.

Immediately regretting it Naruto said, "Fuck, the seal." Standing up Naruto took out the shuriken and tossed it back at her, Takako jumped out of the way and then was hit in the face making her fall back. Looking up she saw Naruto standing where she had tried to jump. Naruto reached into his sleeve and took off the seal he had placed on his arm seeing the markings on it had a hole. He let it fall to the ground feeling his left arm tremble, "This is bad."

He heard an explosion along with the ground shake, Takako also felt this along with the others. They looked and saw that the barrier Jiraiya and the other ANBU were stuck in was destroyed.

Kisame looked and saw smoke rise into the air and Jiraiya walked out holding onto his right arm that was a bit burned up from the lighting. Jiraiya was breathing heavily and held out his right hand and Naruto saw the rasengan form. Jiraiya took a pitchers stance and Naruto's eye widened, "Kisame! Stop him now! He's gonna call for reinforcements!" Quickly Kisame ran away from Ibiki and toward Jiraiya mowing down a few ANBU that got in his way.

Jiraiya tossed the rasengan into the air and kicked at Kisame who blocked it with his massive sword. Jiraiya grinned and said, "Rasengan Big Bang!"

The rasengan blew up creating a giant ball of blue light. Everyone looked into the air seeing the light shine for a minute before slowly dying out. Naruto and Kisame both thought at the same time, 'Dammit!'

* Hokage Training Ground: Same Time *

Everyone was watching Haru go one on one with Kakashi and he was using his sharingan to show her how serious he really was. Minato, Kushina, Hinata, Arashi, Hana, Gaara, Sasuke, Sakura, and Itachi were watching from the tree line seeing the two destroy the ground as they battled. Haru hadn't used the Kyuubi chakra yet and was trying to use her sage chakra however Kakashi wasn't giving her the chance to.

Minato was proud that his daughter was lasting this long against his start student, but at the same time both were holding back since they didn't want to seriously injure the other. As the battle continued on Gaara watched her carefully seeing how she moved gracefully in her own way using her flexibility to her advantage to escape attacks and the more he watched her fight the more drawn he felt to her.

Hinata was watching carefully with her byakugan activated focusing more on the two battling. She was so concentrated on the battle that she almost missed it… almost. Hinata felt some movement on her back and she looked at the handle of the Black Mamba seeing it visibly shake and this time it didn't stop or twitch like before it was really moving. Hinata took hold of the sword and pulled it from it's sheath making everyone look at her except for Haru and Kakashi. Minato, Kushina, and Arashi knew what it meant when the sword shakes like that since TenTen's parents told them what it meant when it did so. Leaving them in shock when they could now see it happen.

Hana asked, "What's wrong?"

An ANBU ninja appeared next to the group bowing down to them, "Hokage-sama! There is an attack in the village!"

Minato looked up in the sky toward the village and saw a shining light knowing who cast that jutsu and he shouted, "Kakashi!"

Haru and Kakashi both stopped their fighting and looked at Minato, "Sakura, Haru, Sasuke, Hana all of you stay here! Gaara I'll have to ask you to remain here as well! Everyone else will come with me!" He turned and started walking off along with the others. Hinata was still shocked still looking at the sword, but Kushina grabbed her arm, "Hinata-chan you have to come with us."

"Wait what's going on!" Haru shouted. Arashi stopped her saying, "Haru-chan, just wait here. If we think what's going on then you and Gaara are in danger, so please remain here." When he moved away from her Haru watched as everyone except for her team and Gaara left.

They all raced toward the village and the light that dangled over the new construction area of Konoha. Trying to leave the area of the training grounds as quickly as possible to get to where the battle was taking place, Minato called, "Hinata-chan up here with me!", Hinata tried speeding up and was close enough to the Hokage, "Hinata-chan keep an eye on the sword to make sure it's still reacting and use your eyes to see where he is."

"Hai Hokage-sama-"

The sound of an explosion caught made all of them stop what they were doing, looking in the direction they were heading they saw the smoke of an explosion. Minato shouted, "Hurry everyone now! Akatsuki maybe here in the village capture them at all cost!"

Everyone with hardened looks all shouted in unity, "Hai Hokage-sama!"

* 10 Min Later: Naruto/Kisame *

Naruto, Kisame, and the Ondekomen had distanced themselves from Jiraiya and the others. Jiraiya had used another rasengan to try alert more help and it was working, more jounin, chunnin, and ANBU were appearing. Naruto saw that they were surrounded and by looking at the expression on Kisame's face he'd say that the Kiri nin was enjoying the battle despite that they were greatly outnumbered. Kisame asked, "Hey gaki this is the first time you've ever been in a real situation like this huh?"

"It is, but I'd like to leave the same way I entered. Not to battered and beaten, we'll have to escape." Naruto told him. Kisame feigned sadness, "Awwww and I wanted to have some more fun, but you're right you gonna get us outta here?"

"I can." Naruto said, he was looking for the weakest link in the ring of ninjas that were waiting for them to make a move. Jiraiya stepped up still holding onto his arm and smiling, "I gotta say kid you look like a darker image of your father."

Naruto's attention fell on him, "I know what you're doing Jiraiya."

"You do huh?"

The Ondekomen moved next to Naruto making the ninjas around them tense up even more, "Yeah, you're buying time until my father arrives. It won't work-"

Naruto was cut off when he saw a blinding light and the next thing was someone standing in front of him. Kisame looked to his right and someone new standing in front of his partner. Naruto meanwhile eye widened in shock seeing his father standing before him they were inches apart from each other.

Jiraiya was also surprised, "Minato? Cutting it close aren't we?" Minato ignored Jiraiya looking down at the son he hasn't seen in three years.

Kisame was about to move, but he felt a kunai against his throat and he looked over his shoulder seeing Kakashi standing next to him. Kisame smiled saying to Naruto, "Hey I got caught." Naruto looked over seeing Kakashi next to Kisame. "Naruto."

Hearing his name Naruto turned his head looking over his shoulder at his mother who had a mixed look of joy and sadness in her eyes. She wanted to approach, but her training as a ninja kept her at bay. The Ondekomen was about to move, but it felt two hands on it's shoulders, it was Itachi and Arashi standing behind it stopping it from making a move to try and save Naruto.

Naruto felt his left arm tremble even more now, this caused him to look away from his mother and now standing next to him was the one person who's been on his mind for three years. His blue eye was staring directly into two lavender colored eyes, his heart started beating faster… his real heart. Hinata was looking up at Naruto flooded with different emotions after finally seeing Naruto after all this time. Hinata had the sword in her hand and dropped it to the floor.

"What are you doing Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked with his eyebrow raised. Hinata still had her byakugan activated and looked like she was now in tears, "N-Naruto-kun… What happened to your eye?" She reached up touching the eyepatch.

"Hinata!", she stopped and looked to Kushina who was shaking her head it made Hinata retract her hand. Minato said, "Naruto both you and your…" He looks at Kisame and the masked man, "friend are both coming with us. We'll talk more when we settle you two down."

Naruto casually replied back, "That's not happening."

"Naruto-kun please the more you are out like this the more the other nations will want you dead." Kushina tried to reason with her son. Naruto looked at her, "I could care less about the other nations."

Minato said seriously now, "This isn't the time for you to be prideful son and I wasn't asking that you three come with us." Naruto still remained calm and so did Kisame despite the situation they were in. Kisame plainly said, "To hell with this!" on cue the spikes on Samehada shot out of the bandages and hit Kakashi in the side, but it also caused Kakashi to pull on the kunai. Kisame moved his head and the kunai barely nicked his neck.

Jiraiya acted first and charged for Kisame to stop him as did a few other ninjas. Kisame made the Ram handsign, 'We'll get away this way!' Kisame spat out a large amount of water from his mouth, Jiraiya stopped when the water started spiraling out of control. Minato acted quick and grabbed Naruto by his arm, but Naruto was about to hit his father's arm away but his father had already let go and hurriedly grabbed Hinata and Kushina to get away from the water that was about to hit them using his signature jutsu. The Ondekomen had it's platinum sand shoot out from it's body in the form of spikes, but it missed hitting Arashi or Itachi since they had quick reaction times and once free it absorbed all the platinum powder back into it's body and dove into the raging water that contained Naruto, Kisame and various other ninjas who were caught in the vicious waters.

Naruto was spiraling about in the water and finally stabilized himself, his Ondekomen returned and the black mass shot out of the clothing of the clone and Naruto pulled up his hoodie and opened his stitchings letting his heart return to his body. The clone disappeared and he grabbed his mask and put it back on his sash, using his byakugan he saw Kisame and swam over to him. The shark man noticed his partner and was able to speak despite being underwater, "How did it feel to see everyone after all this time?"

Not responding to that question he instead spoke as well, "You're gonna have to get us out of here." Naruto looked at his right arm and grabbed it by the wrist and pulled it off his body by removing the stitchings around the bicep of his arm, "My father placed a seal on this arm." They both watched as the arm drifted in the water, "My jutsu are now limited."

Kisame had Samehada in his hand, "As long as we have this many ninjas inside my space they won't do anything. Despite how high a ranking we both have Konoha won't risk killing their own ninjas. Find us a way out." Naruto told Kisame, "There is something I need to do first. You'll have to trust me."

Eyeing Naruto, Kisame asked, "What is it?" Naruto looked at Kisame asking, "Have I ever really given you a reason not to trust me?"

"Where too?" Kisame asked him. Naruto pointed over to a section in Konoha, "That way. We'll have to-"

Kisame and Naruto both stopped and felt a presence behind them causing Kisame to grin and Naruto to narrow his eyes.

Outside the giant water dome Minato was standing next to Kushina, "Our ninjas are trapped inside." Kushina was looking around, "There has to be a way to get them out." looking at Hinata who had her byakugan activated looking around the giant ball of water, "I see that they are swimming to the edges of the water attempting to leave."

Arashi appeared next to her, "What about Naruto?" Hinata focused, "I can't see them. It's like a wall of chakra is blocking my vision, but it's focused toward the top."

Jiraiya was sitting down off to the side, "We don't have many water users in this village. The only ones who do know water jutsu are Itachi and Kakashi here."

"Hokage-sama! Haru-chan and the others are almost here." Hinata told him. Minato sighed and Kushina replied, "It was to be expected. We didn't want to get Haru or Gaara involved since this is the Akatsuki."

Hinata asked with uncertainty in her voice, "You don't really think that Naruto-kun would harm Haru do you?" Kakashi answered, "Not sure, but Kisame wouldn't hesitate. He's as bloodthirsty as they come, just like Zabuza and many others from Kiri."

Itachi was looking at the ball of water seeing what Hinata saw just a mass of chakra shielding his vision, very few ninjutsu could block dojutsu and yet it was happening now he did however see something when the water just finished taking shape, "I could've sworn that I saw a third figure with them."

Everyone looked at Itachi, Minato asked him, "Possible hostage?"

"Maybe." Itachi said with uncertainty.

"Hokage-sama."

Minato saw Ibiki and his team bowing before him, "Hokage-sama what will you have us do?"

"Surround the water make sure to grab as many of our comrades who get out. Under no circumstances do you enter." Minato ordered him.

Ibiki and his team nodded and disappeared along with the ninjas who were left to do as ordered. Kushina asked her husband, "Did you tag Naruto?"

"I did just before Kisame made his move." Minato answered, "Now I have a link to Naru-"

"Mass Destruction Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

They all heard a shouting voice which they recognized as Haru's voice. Looking up in the air they saw Haru had jumped high in the air and had hundreds of kunai were flying toward the top of the dome flying into it at high speeds, once all were inside Haru, Gaara, Sasuke, Sakura, and Hana all landed next to Minato and Haru shouted, "Here it goes!" explosions suddenly erupted in the water blasting water in every direction and destroying the jutsu the series of explosions were so massive they still continued even after the water jutsu was dispelled. Minato looked at them shouting, "I told all of you to stay put!"

Haru looked at her dad telling him, "We're ninjas too and we wanted to help!" Kushina grabbed Minato by his arm, "We have to get the survivors and find Naruto!"

Haru, Sasuke, and Sakura froze after hearing his name and that he was here in the village. Sasuke asked, "Hokage-sama is he really here in the village?"

Minato didn't answer them, "Everyone search for Naruto and Kisame!" he was about to talk to Hinata to tell her to scan the area, but she was nowhere to be found, "Where's Hinata?" Everyone looked around not seeing her.

"Hokage-sama! We found them!"

Minato and the others ran to the source of the voice and some ANBU had surrounded the two Akatsuki ninjas. They joined the group and saw that the two were badly damaged as their cloaks were ripped to shreds as well as any other upper half clothing, their pants were ripped up as well. Naruto looked worse as he was missing both arms and his eyepatch was gone and his right eye was closed. Kisame had burn marks all over his body and his sword was nowhere in sight.

Kisame muttered, "Who's the idiot who tossed all those damn kunai in my space?" Naruto was on one knee and looked up looking at how they were surrounded, the minute he stood up he was immediately kneed in the face sending him flying back and skidding across the ground. Kisame saw a blonde girl just touched the ground and was about to strike her, but he suddenly felt hands grab him and force him to the ground.

Kakashi, Arashi, Itachi, Ibiki, Sasuke, and Hana were all holding him down and both Kakashi and Sasuke had a kunai to the back of his neck telling him not to move. Naruto meanwhile was laying on the ground facedown and tried to stand despite that he had no arms, the minute he stood up a gold dust wrapped around Naruto covering his whole body leaving just his neck and head visible, Jiraiya appeared next to Naruto and placed his left hand on the gold dust and a seal shot out surrounding the gold dust. Gaara was standing behind Naruto with his hand out, "You're not going anywhere this time Naruto Namikaze."

Naruto looked at Gaara and the two were just staring at one another for awhile before Naruto said, "Who're you?" Gaara's eyes widened and he barely whispered, "You don't remember?"

"Gaara-kun!" Haru, Minato, and Kushina appeared in front of Naruto all of them staring at him. Minato looked back and forth between Naruto and Kisame, something was wrong… very wrong and he wasn't the only one who thought so. Minato shouted, "Shi! Takako!" The two ANBU appeared next to him, "Look into his mind quickly he can't move Gaara has a good hold on him."

The two did as they were told and Shi placed his hand on Naruto's head and Takako touched the back of Naruto's head and began infiltrating his mind. Minato told his wife and daughter, "Stay here and watch over them. I'll check on our second captive." Minato walked over seeing that Ibiki was way ahead of them and he had his hand on Kisame's head, "Hokage-sama I'm placing him under a genjutsu torture method… However something is off."

"How so?"

Ibiki told him, "I've fought against Kisame a long time ago and he would never go down this easily." Itachi agreed, "Yeah, three years ago he would never let himself get caught this easily."

Minato looked at Arashi who was also unsure, "What about you son? What do you think?" Arashi looked his father in the eyes replying, "They're right, Kisame is a hardened criminal and Naruto… I don't think Gaara would've been able to capture him that easily."

"Minato!"

Minato looked back seeing his wife waving her hand at him, he ran over leaving the others with Kisame. When he got close Shi and Takako were standing away from Naruto… or rather this unknown man. Sealed inside Gaara's gold dust was a very white man who was grinning at them, Minato couldn't believe it, 'It's like before, back when Madara trapped me in that dimension!'

"Looks like I was found out." he said.

"Hokage-sama! It's the same over here!" Sasuke shouted to him. Minato looked at where 'Kisame' was and saw the same white man was being held down, 'It was a rouse to let Naruto and Kisame escape unnoticed.' Minato then remembered who wasn't there, "Someone find Hinata now."

The white Zetsu told Minato, "You're all not going anywhere." they looked at Zetsu and he held out his tongue and there was an explosive tag on it. Minato, Kushina, Haru, and Jiraiya jumped away from him and Gaara quickly engulfed the head and the explosion bulked the gold dust, but didn't let the explosion break out. They heard another explosion where Arashi and the others were and Haru shouted, "Nii-san!"

A blinding light appeared in front of them and everyone was safe and Arashi was on his knees with his hands together as if praying and two kanji were on the back of both hands for 'Instant' and 'Teleportation'. Arashi was breathing heavily and Hana grabbed hold of him worried, "Arashi-kun are you okay?"

He smiled at her, "I am, that jutsu takes a lot of chakra if you're not prepared before hand." She put his arm around her shoulder so she could help him stand. Ibiki walked up to Minato saying, "The genjutsu I placed on what ever the hell that thing is showed me absolutely nothing. It's like it had no life prior to just moments ago."

"I've faced these things before, fifteen years ago the night the Kyuubi escaped." Minato paused looking around, he couldn't say much else since he wasn't sure who was Danzo's men, "For now find as many wounded and take them to the hospital as well as the dead. Tsunade and Shizune may not be back from their mission, but Hari is there so that's enough for now." Everyone scrambled about and Minato told a few that were left, "Find Hinata it's odd that she just left in the middle of all of this."

Haru turned to leave, but Minato reached out and grabbed her shoulder making her tense up, "Not you, at this point until this Akatsuki situation in this village is dealt with you're grounded."

"What!" Haru shouted at her father, "You're actually grounding me! I'm a full-fledged ninja!" Minato crossed his arms, "I am your Hokage and you along with Sasuke and Sakura disobeyed my orders, so let me rephrase this, 'You Haruko Namikaze are to be held in lockdown until this crisis is over'." he said sternly, Haru knew her father was serious when he called her by her full name instead of just her nickname. Haru grumbled under her breath and Minato said, "And if you disobey my direct order again you'll be sorely sorry."

Haru gritted her teeth and mumbled, "Understood." Minato sighed, "Good, now head to the mansion and wait there until I say otherwise." he looked at Gaara asking, "Gaara I know that under these circumstances that-"

"I understand the situation Hokage-sama you want me to go back to my team and wait this out as well." Gaara interrupted him, Minato nodded, "Yes, since you're not with our village however you are allies to us and with you being a jinchuriki it changes the situation."

Gaara nodded and he walked up to Haru, "We should go now." Minato told Sasuke and Sakura, "I want you two to go with them as extra support just in case. If you run into either Naruto or Kisame I don't want you to fight them, if you do find them report it and we'll take it from there." Minato saw Kushina picking up something off the ground and he walked over wondering what she had. He put his hand on her shoulder, "What's that?"

Kushina faced him holding the Black Mamba in her hands, "Hinata left this behind, she would never leave this behind she loves this sword." Minato grabbed the sword handle and didn't feel a reaction to it, "It's not shaking like it was before, maybe she knew this. I remember Kensei said that once the swords are so close they won't react the way they did before until they've been drifted apart for an extended period of time."

She focused her attention on the sword and remembered, "Hana!" Kushina took the sword away from her husband to go find Hana.

All four nodded and turned and started leaving. Sakura was next to Haru asking, "We're not going back to the mansion are we?"

Haru grinned, "Nope, I don't think that Gaara-kun has really seen our village and I've been gone for so long that a lot has changed." Sasuke smirked, "So you want the two of us to show you what's new then?"

"Bingo, so why don't you two lead the way?" Haru said smiling at her two teammates. Sasuke and Sakura moved ahead of them as they looked for Naruto.

* Konoha Cemetery *

Naruto was in the cemetery and had the small Bannai out, Naruto bit his thumb to let some blood come out and the Bannai did a few handsigns and put it's hands on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto slammed his left hand on the ground shouting, "Summoning Jutsu!" A large amount of smoke erupted and it was Gamakichi, but bigger this time. Gamakichi asked, "Yo what are we doing here?"

"Kisame and I split up in the midst of a battle. While he's gone I'm gonna need you to do something for me." Naruto said quickly, Gamakichi looked around seeing graves everywhere, "What the hell are we doing here?"

Naruto had Gamakichi and the Bannai follow him as they walked around the cemetery, "With the commotion we caused in the village no doubt the only places anyone is really worried about are the main places of Konoha like the tower, the mansion, and the prison. They looked and saw an arch and Naruto said, "There! Now stay by me as close as possible." Rushing in Naruto, Gamakichi, and Bannai ran in and numerous traps went off. Bannai's threads hardened to steel, Gamakichi took out his tanto and Naruto pulled out Nuibari and all of them began knocking away all of the traps that shot out at them. Naruto shouted, "Trap door ahead!" When all three touched the ground the jumped immediately just before the trap door could activate.

Dodging the rest of the traps they made it through the walkway and into a clearing. Gamakichi asked, "Mind telling me what we're doin here boss?"

"We're here for these guys." Naruto told him. Gamakichi looked up and saw some more graves, but the tombstones were more decorated, "This is where Konoha put the more famous ninjas along with the kages."

Gamakichi looked at one grave seeing one marked, "Here lies Sakumo Hatake, oh man I know this guy." Naruto walked up next to Gamakichi and said, "Let's get to work."

* Ten Minutes Later *

Hinata was running through the treelined walkway of the graveyard trying to avoid setting any traps off. She tracked Naruto down to this area after Haru's grand entrance and was barely able to see him slip out just before the explosion and tried following him without letting the others see her. She had her byakugan activated and seen many traps were set off and moved around them. She was close to the section where ninjas are buried based off of their record or how valuable they were to their village. She stayed a distance away and she could see Naruto, his toad and some strange creature standing around pushing dirt back into these holes.

She moved a bit closer trying not to be detected by Naruto and eavesdrop on their conversation.

"That was nasty, I think I swallowed some dirt as well." Gamakichi said wiping his tongue off that had traces of some dirt. Naruto finished pushing the dirt back into the holes they dug up, "They will discover though that they're missing. What ever Orochimaru had planned it had to do with these guys, with them out of the equation that should take a chunk out of what ever he had planned." Naruto heard something and activated his byakugan again and saw who was spying on him. Turning around he called out, "I know your there Hinata-chan… Come out."

Gamakichi and the Bannai turned around and they saw Hinata walk out from behind the arch and was looking at Naruto. The Bannai was about to attack, but Naruto held his arm out to stop it and it backed down once Naruto stopped it. There was a gap between the two and Naruto slowly started to close the distance speaking softly, "You didn't bring back up?"

Hinata shook her head, "I didn't."

Looking her up and down he asked her, "How have you been?"

"I've gotten a lot stronger and your parents took me in and your mother has been training me." Hinata told him and he was now standing right in front of her, she was looking up at him again her body trembling, 'Am I scared of Naruto-kun?' she thought to herself trying to stop herself from shaking. Naruto could see this, "Are you scared?"

"No I'm just- I don't know, but I'm not scared." She tried saying confidently. She looked at his eyepatch and reached up touching it, "Naruto-kun, tell me that this isn't what I think it is."

Naruto grabbed her hand, "What do you think it is?" Hinata grabbed the strap of the eyepatch and took it off of his head and she saw that his eye was closed and there was some scarring around his right eye. Hinata said looking at his eye, "I saw it back there, but I wasn't sure. Naruto-kun is this the byakugan?" she touched his cheek asking, "Can I?"There was a long silence and Naruto slowly opened his right eye and Hinata saw not his natural blue colored eye, but instead something her clan has cherished and many fear the byakugan.

* * *

My winter break is coming up so I'll have more time to write, but for now things will be coming in a bit slow since my finals are coming so I'm studying more than doing my FanFic stories. Well if you have any questions feel free to send me a message and I'll answer your questions when I can. Thank you for your patience.


	36. Escape Konoha

Chapter 36: Escape Konoha

Thank you to my Beta Reader, **argentorum **for editing this chapter! Thank you for your patience and I hope you'll all be pleased with this chapter!

* * *

* Konoha Cemetery *

Naruto looked at Hinata, his blue eye and his byakugan seeing the shocked expression on her face. Naruto leaned forward and their faces were mere inches apart and asked, "What do you think Hinata-chan?"

"N-N-Naruto-kun… I don't… I mean…"

He knew that she would be rendered speechless after seeing his new eye, especially the one that made her clan famous. He stepped away from her. Looking at Gamakichi, he said, "Go back. I'll summon you later to talk more about what I plan on doing."

"Alright, you don't have to tell me just summon me. Here you'll need this." Gamakichi opened his mouth and spat out something wrapped in a cloth and then disappeared. Naruto looked at Hinata again, asking her, "My parent's took you in? That's what you said right?"

Hinata nodded and Naruto walked up to her, making her tense up a bit. Her reaction didn't go unnoticed by him, but he ignored it. He slowly walked around her, taking her in from head to toe. "Was that my father's idea?" Hinata nodded again as she felt him gently grab some of her hair. Naruto ran his fingers through her hair, feeling the silkiness of it. On top of whatever training his parents gave her she still remained stunningly beautiful in his eyes. He let her hair fall and he walked in front of her again, looking down at her. "You've obviously came here to tell me something since you haven't tried to attack me."

He could see that she was really trying to say something. It seemed like she was having a mental war with herself on whether she should ask or not. Naruto stepped away again saying, "You want to ask me to stay, but you know I won't say yes." this caught her by surprise, "Along with everyone else you want me to just give myself up and come back to Konoha. So you can lock me away possibly even execute me."

"No! it's not like that!" Hinata said, taking a step forward. Naruto remained calm and continued, "If I go back… I will be killed. You and Haru want me to come back to my death. Everything I've done up to this point will have been a waste of time." He looked away from her showing his back to her. "Hinata-chan" He said slowly, measuring out every word, "… I will never return to Konoha."

Hinata was close to tears. "Naruto-kun…" She began quietly, "You know that I would never want anything like that to happen to you… I just want you to come home to be with… To stay with…" She couldn't finish what she really wanted to say.

He glanced over to her, "Then… come with me Hinata-chan."

Her eyes widened, not expecting this kind of request from him. Naruto still only looked at her with his regular eye, "You don't really want me to come back to Konoha… You just want me to come back to you." facing her yet again he held his left hand out and said, "We can be together again Hinata-chan. And not Haru, my mother, Arashi or even my father will be able to come between us." There was a brief pause as he seen her look at his hand then back to his eyes, "Just take my hand Hinata-chan, that's all you'll have to do."

The conflict grew within her that he could see. Hinata opened her mouth to speak getting out, "N-Naruto-kun… I will-"

"Gatsūga!"

Naruto jumped out of the way and a spinning vortex shot passed him. Another sound caught his attention and he saw another one coming his way. Before it could hit him the Bannai jumped in the way and grabbed hold of it. Sparks flew through the air before the Bannai tossed it down to the ground and both it and Naruto landed on the ground safely. Hinata was still standing in her spot and saw Kiba holding onto one of the trees snarling at Naruto and a very large Akamaru in the crater that was created when he was tossed into the ground. Both had their attention on Naruto.

Kiba jumped down to the ground and looked at Hinata, "Hey Hinata! You okay!"

"H-Hai." She replied weakly not really sure how to explain the situation. Kiba looked at Naruto shouting at him, "Oi teme I heard about the damage you did in the village! I'm taking you in!"

Naruto had his byakugan eye closed so that Kiba wouldn't know about his 'ace', "That's just like you Kiba all bark and no bite. Pun intended." he said smartly. Kiba narrowed his eyes at Naruto and shouted, "You're done for! Let's go Akamaru!"

Akamaru shook the dirt off his fur and let out a loud bark and started running toward the Bannai while Kiba charged Naruto. Kiba thought to himself, 'I should have an advantage he only has one arm that should make things easier for me.'

When he got close he swung his sharpened nails, trying to gash Naruto who bent his body out of the way with little effort, avoiding the attacks. Akamaru jumped and bit down on the Bannai's arm, but even its steeled threading didn't shatter the dog's sharpened fangs. Hinata just watched from the sideline as they fought. When Kiba made a wide swing Naruto stepped back and cocked his left arm, punching Kiba right in the jaw, taking advantage of his miss.

Kiba rubbed his jaw and spit out a small amount of blood and grinned, "Lucky punch, I'm not done just-" Naruto disappeared for an instant and reappeared behind a shocked Kiba, whispering, "You're too slow." He backhanded Kiba in his head making him skid across the ground. Kiba barely recovered and looked up seeing Naruto standing there not even looking his way. A cry caught his attention and he saw Akamaru getting knocked into a tree. The Bannai had punched Akamaru in his, side sending the large dog flying into the tree, cracking it.

Naruto said, "The gloves are off, I don't have to hold back anymore."

"Good." Everyone looked at the entrance to the graveyard seeing Shino standing there with his hands in his pockets his focus on Naruto, "I'd rather fight you when you're not holding back."

The Bannai ran up to Naruto and they saw it turn from black gray color to all black. It fell to the ground and little by little it went up Naruto's pant leg leaving the mask behind on the ground. He picked up the mask and put it on his sash, "Shino, you're nowhere near skilled enough to fight me hand to hand. Maybe if you and Kiba were one then it'd work. But individually; Kiba cannot string together attacks and relies too much on his wild style to land a hit. And you, on the other hand, rely too heavily on your insects to strike when your opponent least expects it." He paused for a second, contemplating, "I take back what I said earlier, even if you two were one you still wouldn't win."

Kiba shouted, "You just think your tough shit don't you! We'll win! Hinata go get reinforcements we'll take care of Naruto." he stood up and flexed his claws. Hinata was still motionless not sure what to really do, but Shino touched her shoulder telling her, "Go on. The more of us there are the easier it'll be to capture him."

Hinata looked at Naruto seeing that he was staring at her. But that he did, unnoticed by her teammates, caught her attention and reluctantly she left to go get reinforcements. Shino watched her leave. Even though they said that they could fight Naruto, neither him nor Kiba ever hit Naruto in all of their practices. "Your eyes should never leave your opponent." Shino froze and slowly looked to his right seeing Naruto standing shoulder to shoulder with him.

'When did he move? I didn't even pick up on him.' Shino glanced Kiba's way seeing a perplexed look on his face as well, 'Kiba didn't see it as well.' Shino's sight went back onto Naruto, "You've gotten faster."

Naruto said, "That's not even a fraction of what I am capable of." Shino adjusted his glasses asking Naruto, "So then what will happen next?"

Hinata left the cemetery and had her byakugan activated looking for some help all the while trying to figure out what was going through Naruto's mind.

"Hinata!"

She looked up and saw Haru, Sasuke, Sakura, and Gaara approaching her. She stopped and they stood in front of her and Haru asked, "You know where Naruto is don't you?" Hinata nodded.

"This could be our chance to capture him." Sakura said excitedly.

Sasuke asked Hinata, "Sakura sensed that Kiba, Shino and Akamaru were with you? Where are they?"

When Hinata didn't answer Gaara said, "Most likely they are fighting Naruto and Hinata was asked to get reinforcements."

Haru saw the saddened look in Hinata's eyes, wanting to ask what was wrong but the thought of Naruto being so close she ignored it and shouted, "Let's hurry then! All of us! Hana should be here soon with my father and the others. Since she's an Inuzuka she can trail Hinata's scent out!" Without another word they turned around and started running back to the cemetery. Haru led the front with Sasuke right behind her his sharingan activated. Sakura and Hinata were behind him and Gaara brought up the rear.

Sakura shouted, "I can sense them up ahead!" They ran passed the active traps and came to where Naruto and the rest of Team 8 were fighting at. When they came into the clearing they saw Naruto standing on top of an unconscious Kiba. Shino was leaning up against the tree unconsious as well and Akamaru was down with a tree collapsed on top of him. Naruto looked back. He now had his eyepatch back on and his right arm was returned.

Hinata looked over to the wrapped up object, seeing wrappings scattered everywhere. No doubt that was Naruto's new arm. Naruto's eye was locked on Haru who was gritting her teeth and glaring at him. "It's been a long time, sis."

Haru said in a deep tone, "Get. Off. Of. Kiba." Naruto took his foot off of the Inuzuka and faced them, examining each one of them seeing how they changed. He next looked at Gaara saying, "Another jinchuriki is here? Even with my skill I wouldn't be able to capture you two without trouble. I wonder where Kisame scrambled off to?" When no one spoke Naruto just said, "You all are making this reunion very awkward. Are we going to fight or are you just stalling until tou-san arrives? Are you really so afraid of fighting me that you know you can't win without more help?"

Haru was about to move, but Gaara grabbed her shoulder, "No don't. He's just baiting you. Don't let him get the satisfaction of getting you upset. I'll fight him." Haru looked at him like he was crazy. Sasuke interrupted telling Gaara, "No I'll do it. I'll be able to predict his movements. If I catch him in a genjutsu then we can seal him, Sakura knows some good sealing jutsu that will restrain him."

Sakura touched both Haru and Hinata's shoulders telling the two, "Stand down, we'll take it from here."

"No, Sakura, I have to fight him!" Haru shouted at her.

"With that angry tone of yours. There isn't a doubt in my mind that you've gotten stronger, but this is Naruto we're talking about. Fighting him without thinking clearly would turn out very badly and Hinata is no different. She can't fight him while fighting herself as well." Sakura said sternly to Haru, "Let us fight him first. Please." Haru gritted her teeth and looked over at Hinata who was just staring at her brother. Haru looked back at Sakura saw the determination and the seriousness in her eyes.

Sasuke moved forward with Gaara standing right next to him, "Your sand is fast right? Just cover me."

Gaara replied back, "It's gold sand and you don't order me around. Just do whatever you do and I'll do what I do best."

"Which is?" Sasuke asked with his eyes still fixated on Naruto. Gaara replied, "Win." Gold sand shot out of Gaara's gourd as he began making the hand motions for it and Sasuke pulled out some shuriken and tossed them at Naruto.

Naruto didn't move until the shuriken got close and then suddenly they shot right into the air, away from him. Sasuke saw the wind surround him with his sharingan. 'He's using his wind jutsu to protect himself from projectiles. I have to get Kiba away from him first.'

Gaara made his sand move around Sasuke and it grouped into a single point and Gaara said, "Golden Sand Blaster!" The gold sand shot out at high speeds at Naruto. Instantly Naruto disappeared and both Sasuke and Hinata lost sight of his chakra . Sasuke regained himself and ran for Kiba. Naruto reappeared above Sasuke and Kiba, shouting, "Wind Style: Raging Winds!" He shot down at them, wind surrounding his right fist as he prepared to hit them. Gaara reacted quickly shooting his gold sand over the two leaf nins to protect them.

Naruto grinned and disappeared mid swing, reappearing in front of Gaara, "Got you." Naruto moved to hit Gaara in the stomach. But his gold sand shot up at the last second, protecting him from the hit; however, Naruto's attack shot wind out of his fist, sending Gaara flying into the trees.

"Fire Style: Ash Pile Burning!"

Looking around Naruto saw a black smoke surround him, "What the-" Before Naruto could finish the cloud burst into flames. Sakura, Hinata, and Haru shielded their eyes from Sasuke's attack that he just used. He was standing over Kiba protecting him, 'Where will you come from next Naruto?' he thought 'You couldn't get away from anywhere above ground so…' Sasuke grabbed Kiba and jumped out of the way just as a hand shot out to grab his ankle, 'You'll come from below ground.'

Sasuke landed next to the girls and handed Kiba to Sakura. They saw Naruto climb out of the ground with no burn marks on him at all. "Pretty sharp Sasuke; to predict my movement like that." Naruto dusted himself off, "However I'm not impressed with you or Gaara. And although I would love to actually fight you two seriously I don't want my father to know of our exact location just yet."

Sakura pointed out, "Sasuke's attack sends mixtures of different burnt scents into the air that can easily be picked up by Hana. They'll be here soon."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sakura and then jumped away from where he was standing when gold sand shot out of the hole he came out of. Gaara was kneeling where he was knocked down at and had his sand go through the hole Naruto made to escape Sasuke's attack and tried to capture Naruto, but missed. Naruto said, "Looks like my time is up. My mission was to capture Haru, not go into a battle royal with Leaf ninjas. My job is done here, there's no reason for me to try and fight a losing battle."

Haru's clenched her fists. She wanted to fight him so badly, this was her only chance. 'Use it.' Haru froze, hearing it's voice, 'You know you what to. He's right there taunting you, showing all of you just how weak you really are. Just use my power and you'll be able to overpower him.'

'No! I-I can't use it. I can win on my own! If I go into Sage-' her line of thought was interrupted when her prisoner said.

'Sit still for five minutes? He'll be gone before you even get halfway there... three years of training and you're not even sure if it is enough to stop him. If you use my power than you'll be able to overpower even him and bring him down…'

'But-'

'You swore to capture him didn't you? Sage mode will only take you so far and it's nowhere near as strong as my power.' Haru continued to tremble and finally the voice shouted, 'USE IT NOW!'

Chakra surged out. Making Gaara, Sasuke, Sakura, and Hinata look at Haru as her eyes turned blood red and her fangs grew. Her whisker marks grew as well along with her nails. She dropped on all fours and Gaara realized what was going on. Hinata told Sakura, "We have to go now!" they left holding onto Kiba while Gaara shot out his gold sand to get Akamaru and Sasuke ran over to get Shino. The ground beneath them started to shatter and shake.

Meanwhile Naruto watched as Haru began to change as her skin started to peel off. Unlike the last two times, Naruto knew this malicious chakra, 'The first time you showed me true fear; which is what led to my first defeat. The second time I couldn't stop shaking feeling that hatred and putrid chakra rolling off of you, I thought I could win, but I was too full of myself and was beaten by that chakra again. This time though I'm ready for you beast.'

Haru let out a monstrous roar and chakra erupted from her body creating a dome around her and enough energy shot out from her that it pushed and ripped all the trees out of the ground as well as a few of the gravestones and only Naruto remained in his place. The chakra surrounded her and encased her, creating a black ball. Naruto tried to stand his ground, shielding his eyes from the wind that Haru kicked up. Finally it died down and Naruto saw Haru's new form.

Her skin was replaced with a black and red mass, her fingers were her claws just like her toes, five tails waved wildly behind her, her long hair was doing the same, and her eyes were shining white orbs. Naruto grinned saying, "This is new."

Haru roared at him and Naruto took up his fighting stance, "Tell me Haru, you don't know who I am at this point huh?" He got a loud monsterous roar from her in response, "Then you're not Haru, you're that beast aren't you? If you are, then I'll just have to put you down like a beast."

Haru shot her hand out as it grew trying to grab hold of Naruto. Vanishing again Naruto appeared behind Haru with steel surrounding his right arm and he backhanded her in the face. The blow knocked it off its feet, but another mass formed from her back, a second upper body of Haru that had only it's left arm. She swung out at Naruto, but he disappeared again, avoiding the attack. He appeared to its side and kicked it in the face, disappearing again and uppercutting Haru, lifting her off the ground. Then punched her right in the stomach making her fly backwards. He disappeared and reappeared a good distance away from her.

Recovering Haru looked at Naruto and rushed at him again. Naruto jumped into the air and Haru shot her tails up at him to catch him again, "A mindless monster can't win against me." Naruto breathed in and shouted. A backlash of wind shot out, knocking the tails away. Once they were gone Naruto disappeared and reappeared on the ground. Naruto opened his mouth and his platinum powder poured out. Haru looked back and punched out at Naruto, but the platinum made a wall, stopping her fist. But she dented it enough to cause concern for Naruto.

Naruto changed the appearance of his powder making it into a large balled cage with spikes lining the inside, moving his hands the steel cage rolled to Haru and captured her inside. Naruto said, "Tortured Spiral!" The spiked cage began to spin rapidly and would change direction so quickly it left no time to react. Haru was getting cut up inside the platinum cage, but Naruto saw that it wasn't cutting her. Whatever was shielding her was stronger than platinum and instead of blood flying around sparks just danced in the air. Adjusting the shape of the platinum powder Naruto had it encase her completely making a solid round ball, "Maybe taking some air away from you for awhile will calm you down."

Suddenly his jutsu was ripped open and Haru emerged roaring. Naruto wasn't the least bit surprised, "Figures that wouldn't hold you for long."

Gaara, Hinata, Sasuke, and Sakura watched from a distance. Gaara, now sitting, said, "Hang on give me some time to go into my transformation! Maybe I can slow her down just a bit." Sasuke told Hinata, "Keep an eye on them!" Hinata activated her byakugan and watched the battle.

Naruto did a few handsigns and shouted, "Lava Style: Lava Tsunami!" a large wave of lava shot out at Haru and crashed into her like a rockslide. Naruto summoned out two clones and all three started doing did another set of handsigns shouting, "Water Style: Geyser Waves!" He and the clones shot out a light stream of water from their mouths, hitting the lava and making steam erupt everywhere. They hardened the lava with the mixture of all the water. Cracking and hissing sounds could be heard as the lava hardened. After it hardened completely Naruto could see with his byakugan that Haru was imprisoned.

Or so he thought; Haru had expanded her body and erupted from the rock prison with a roar. Naruto watched as she swiped with her claw and a tornado came flying his way, he and his clones avoided the tornado, jumping out of the way in time; but Haru opened her mouth and launched a blast of fire at them. One clone grabbed Naruto and tossed him away from the fire, but in the process was hit and disappeared.

Naruto landed on his feet and said, "Enough…" Naruto shot a thread out at Haru, but he saw the moment it wrapped around her arm it started to burn and quickly severed the thread from his body. He saw Haru give a kind of smile, 'So your skin is your ultimate shield?' Naruto put his hands together and disappeared and appareled in front of her and punched her square in her face knocking her out of the hole she climbed out of. Naruto immediately hardened his thread with his steel and hundreds of them wrapped around Haru's arms, legs, body, neck, and tails, keeping her restrained. The threads held, at least for the time being. Naruto hoped that his threads would last long enough to let him siphon her chakra.

Haru tried to rampage, but Naruto had her held down and she seemed to get weaker with each passing second. Naruto gritted his teeth as he absorbed her chakra, thinking, 'This chakra is giving me so much strength… but it's so vile that it's actually making me nauseous.' Haru was calming down some and was barely moving and he thought, 'Capture of the Nine-Tails almost done.' Naruto looked behind him and saw a shine of gold heading his way and immediately let go of Haru jumped out of the way.

Gaara had charged at Naruto and tried to hit him, but when he saw Naruto evade it meant that he could stop Haru now. Naruto saw that Gaara's appearance was different now. His body was completely encompassed by a layer of gold sand that hugged his form. His eyes turned black and his iris had a black four sided star in them surrounded by four black dots around it. His gourd was gone and instead there a large gold tail with black markings waving behind him. Gaara looked the same, just golden. He jumped over Haru and gold sand came out of his mouth and fell onto her creating restraints and Gaara held his hands together shouting, "Golden Sand Pyramid!" Gold sand shot out and covered over both him and Haru.

Naruto watched as the pyramid was complete.

"Nine Demon Sealing Method!"

Naruto heard a familiar voice and then saw nine markings appeared around the pyramid that held Haru forming a circle around the pyramid. Naruto next saw his mother appear in front of the pyramid and held her arms out at it and gold chains shot out of her body and wrapped around the pyramid. Then his father appear on top of the pyramid shouting, "Lock!" a green light erupted from that hand and shot his whole arm into the pyramid. Naruto saw his brother with his byakugan coming up behind him, but Naruto spun around and tried to kick him in the head. Arashi blocked. 'How did he see me?'

The two brothers started fighting punches and kicks flying at an incredibly fast pace. Kakashi was hiding behind a rock formed a few handsigns. "Lightning Style: Knockout Stunner." Lightning erupted from his fingertips. The lighting arches traveled down his fingers to the palm of his hand. Running out from behind the rock hecharged Naruto. Right as he got close Naruto turned and grabbed Kakashi's wrist stopping him when he got close enough shocking the jounin.

Naruto gritted his teeth thinking, 'I have to get out of here now! There's no way in hell I'll be able to win!' He let go of Kakashi's wrist to block some punches from Arashi. The minute he let go Kakashi joined in, both trying to keep Naruto occupied.

Kushina was still had her sealing chains around the pyramid and Minato was almost done sealing Haru's chakra thinking, 'Looks like she can't control this stage just yet or she let her emotions get the better of her.' Naruto was kicked in the chest by Arashi making him skid a few feet and Kakashi moved quick enough and shouted again, "Lighting Style: Knockout Stunner!"

Kakashi hit him in the chest, causing the arches from the electricity to shoot everywhere, blasting the two away from each other. Arashi caught Kakashi and Naruto slammed into the ground hard. Naruto looked at his chest, seeing a burned mark bigger than a hand in his chest. Naruto had his steel surrounding his chest and stomach. Kakashi held onto his hand, looking at the scorch marks that covered it.

Minato and Kushina watched the fight and they could fell the Kyuubi's chakra go back within Haru, indicating that she was turning back to normal slowly. Naruto got back up and Itachi appeared in front of Naruto and grabbed his collar and looked at Naruto in his eye, trying to cast a genjutsu on him. Itachi's eyes widened when the genjutsu was dispelled the moment it was cast. Naruto grabbed onto his wrists and fell back onto his back, placing his foot onto Itachi's stomach to flip him over. Itachi recovered twisting around in mid air and threw shurikens at Naruto.

Naruto turned his right arm into steel and knocked them away. Itachi watched closely and landed on his feet, he saw a few shurikens fly passed him and he made a few handsigns and spat out some fire igniting the shuriken. Naruto saw Sasuke was behind Itachi who had launched kunai at him. Naruto made his handsigns too and spat out a large lava glob that melted them easily. It flew towards Itachi and Sasuke. They jumped out of the way but the lava glob erupted and knocked them off their feet.

Appearing in front of Itachi, Naruto kicked him in his stomach, launching him off the ground. Arashi appeared in front of Naruto and tried to punch him in the face and was turelyamazed when Naruto jumped back and away from his brother.

"Leaf Coiling Whirlwind!"

"Gatsūga!"

Naruto, reacting quickly, turned around and covered his whole body with steel. He was kicked by two separate people, but even then he was hit with enough force to knock him off his feet and into the air. Naruto was suddenly hit by four spinning wind vacuums that collided with him and sent him flying into the ground, making a crater. Arashi, Kakashi, Itachi, saw standing where Naruto just was just moments ago was Guy and Lee. Who were both smiling; and not too far off Hana was on all fours and her three ninken were standing around her all snarling. Minato finished the sealing and the gold sand pyramid fell and they saw Gaara holding Haru bridal style Haru returned to normal except her skin was all red now and he laid her down gently, Kushina stood over her daughter telling Minato, "Go!"

Minato ran over to the crater and looked into it seeing a hole where Naruto should've been. Hinata appeared next to the Hokage and shouted, "He's digging that way!" Before Minato could say anything gold sand shot into the hole and he turned around, seeing Gaara sitting by Haru. He had his gold sand chase after Naruto. Minato told Hinata, "Follow Naruto. Arashi, Itachi, Sasuke, Gaara come with me! Everyone else stay put with Haru incase Kisame comes around!"

Nodding Minato and the others left and Hinata kept an eye on Naruto who was deep underground. Gaara didn't want to really go, but Kushina told him,"Go she'll be here when you get back." he nodded and left continuing to use his gold sand to try and capture him.

* Kisame *

Kisame hid in the village and had just got done talking with Pain about what happened. Kisame knew that this mission was meant to be a failure to see how Naruto performed against everyone. Kisame wasn't wearing his Akatsuki cloak since it was destroyed when Haru tossed all those explosives into his water jutsu. He asked, "So you want me and Naruto to retreat for now?"

_"Yes, the fact that Naruto performed his skills against Konoha is enough. From what you've told me Orochimaru doesn't stand a chance agaisnt Naruto, that boy is gaining strength at an alarming rate. For now retreat."_

Kisame agreed, "Alright, we'll escape now." Standing up Kisame stretched for a moment and ran his thumb across his sharpened teeth making blood draw and he ran it along a tattoo that was by his neck and slammed his hand onto the ground shouting, "Summoning Jutsu!" The cloud of smoke came up in front of him and standing before him was Naruto.

"Enough playtime. It's time to get out of here." Kisame told him. Naruto asked, "What about Haru and that Gaara guy?"

Grabbing onto Samehada he told his partner, "Leader has other plans for them. Gaara is Deidara's capture. Right now we're outnumbered and we'll go with your plan of capturing her while she's on a mission. For now we are to retreat." Naruto didn't argue and told him, "I'm done with what I wanted to do. Whatever Orochimaru had planned with Konoha's elite I think I might of stopped it if not slowed down his plan. However he had other targets all around the other ninja villages."

"How so?"

Naruto mentioned, "He had a list of ninjas who are dead and another list of ninjas he planned on killing. Whatever he has planned hopefully like I said I've stopped it. I just wonder if he's planning using the deceased ninjas." Kisame and Naruto heard people were rushing to get inside their homes after hearing all the damages caused by their involvement. Kisame said, "We'll mention this later for now we have to leave."

"Any suggestions?"

Kisame pointed over his shoulder in the direction of the main gate, "Just punch through like we always do. How about using that wind jutsu of yours to create a bit more chaos." Naruto knew what jutsu he was talking about. It was a jutsu that both he and Kakuzu developed during his training. He however agreed to this and Kisame started running with Naruto following behind him. They ran through the crowd and headed toward the main gate and immediately ten Konoha ninjas appeared at the gate all holding kunais ready to fight.

Chakra erupted from Naruto's body accompanied by wind as Naruto shouted, "Wind Style: Hurricane Force Alpha!"

* Minato *

Minato, Hinata, Gaara, Itachi, Arashi, and Sasuke stopped when Hinata said, "He just vanished. He was digging and the next thing he turns into a puff of smoke and disappears." Itachi looked at Minato asking, "You think it was a clone?"

"He wouldn't have had a chance to use it. Hinata would've seen something and I don't see when Naruto had a moment to sneak away." Minato said. Arashi thought about it suggesting, "What about a summoning jutsu? It wouldn't be that farfetched to think that he was summoned elsewhere."

Minato agreed, "It's possi-"

Suddenly the ground shook and they all looked in the direction of the main gate of Konoha. A giant dome of wind ravaged through that area. Minato gritted his teeth, "It's just one thing after another. Come on!" Everyone followed after him.

* Outside of Konoha *

Kisame and Naruto were racing to avoid getting caught by any ANBU. All the while Kisame was grinning, saying to Naruto, "That jutsu of yours is deadly. Even for someone like you it should be difficult to control."

Naruto told him, "Thanks to my byakugan I'm able to achieve that feet. It is however still difficult to control Omega. If I'm not careful my own jutsu could destroy me." Kisame knew about his strongest wind jutsu and the real force behind it. Though the one that was just demonstrated was strong it was nowhere near as powerful as its final form. The two kept running until they would soon be clear of the village.

* Konoha Main Gate *

Minato was at the gates, wounded ninja surrounding him. The huge gates were literally ripped off their hinges and tossed into the trees that surrounded Konoha. Part of the wall was destroyed as well, along with a few of the nearby buildings. No one was killed, but many ninjas and a few civilians were injured badly. An ANBU ninja landed by him and asked, "Shall we pursue them Hokage-sama?"

Still looking at the damage he said, "No even if you pursue them, Kisame would show no mercy in cutting you down. Pursuing them wouldn't do any good… They'll be leaving Fire Country and from there we won't be of any real use." He then ordered them to tend to the ninjas and few civilians injured by the attack. Jiraiya walked up next to Minato with his arm in a sling, "That boy has showed that he hasn't been sitting on his ass the last three years."

Minato didn't respond and Jiraiya just said next what he was thinking, "You know that when word gets out about this attack on Konoha the other nations will focus on how much more a threat he's become. Not to mention Akatsuki."

When he looked at Jiraiya he said, "It's odd."

"What is?"

Minato again looked around and explained, "Since leaving Konoha Naruto has done the opposite of what ninjas are suppose to do. Stay low and remain hidden, don't let your enemies know what you're doing. Instead he's attacked ANBU from Kiri, killed ninjas from Sunagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and Yukigakure, he's openly attacked ninjas of Konoha, attacked Haru who's a jinchuriki, and wreaked this much destruction to the village."

Jiraiya noticed, "You're right, but that could just be-"

"And all of this under the Akatsuki flag. Even for Naruto… He's careful about letting others in on what he really wants, and if he really wanted to keep Akatsuki under the radar than he would be doing this with stealth and not flash." Minato brought his hand to his chin and thought about it more. Finally he said, "Jiraiya take over here. I need to go see how Haru is doing."

"Go on, I'll handle things." Jiraiya said waving him off. Minato smiled, but before left he glanced over to where Hinata was helping find anyone buried beneath rubble and whispered, "Keep an eye on Hinata, she was the first to chase after Naruto and until I question her about what happened we'll need her watched for now."

Jiraiya said, "I will."

Minato called out, "Gaara, Sasuke you two are with me! Everyone else stay here to help!" Everyone obeyed and both Gaara and Sasuke walked over to Minato before they disappeared, heading over to where Haru was. They all reappeared back at the destroyed cemetery, seeing Haru on the ground unconscious, being treated by Sakura. Haru's skin was red from being peeled away by the transformation. Kushina was sitting next to her daughter as she was being healed holding onto her hand. Minato walked over to her and Kushina didn't have to look at him to know what happened, "Naruto got away didn't he?" When she received no reply she gave a sad smile, "I see… What now Minato?"

"For now the village will be on lockdown and I'll have to contact the Kazekage to let him know what happened with Gaara's involvement. There isn't much we can do right now." He told her, but after that he looked at Sasuke and said in a low tone, "Why didn't you obey my orders? I said to go back to the village and you all came here to fight? Why didn't you obey my orders? I'm talking to you as well Sakura."

The two didn't answer and Gaara stepped up saying, "Hokage-sama it was my fault. I asked for a tour of the village and I wanted to see the cemetery. I apologize." Sasuke jumped in, "I suggested it Hokage-sama, Haru-chan and Sakura-chan just went along with it."

"Be that as it may all of you, including Haru are being held accountable for it. What if they didn't capture Haru, but Gaara instead?" Minato said with his arms crossed it made them flinch at his words. Kushina said, "Minato-"

"No!" Minato said making Kushina stop, "I know that all of you are covering for Haru. But the fact is that you don't seem to understand that they are after the biju! Had Gaara been captured than that would've caused a wedge between Suna and Konoha! Suna would've held us accountable for this and we would lose a valuable ally!" Minato looked at Gaara telling him, "As soon as it's clear tomorrow Konoha Leaf squad will escort you and your team to the Land of Fire border. I have to worry about Haru for now, so go back to your hotel."

Gaara and Minato's eyes were fixated on each other and Gaara just muttered, "Understood Hokage-sama."Turning around he left and two ANBU followed him to make sure he got back to his hotel. Minato next said, "Team 7 will be suspended until I say otherwise." This caused shock between both Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura stopped healing Haru momentarily about to say something, but Kushina touched her shoulder stopping her and she slowly shook her head.

Minato told Sakura, "Heal her and then I want you and Sasuke to go to your homes until I call for you. Understood?" The two nodded hanging their heads. Kushina asked her husband, "What about Hinata?"

"I'll have to have a serious talk with her. Right now they're acting like children and not ninjas. I'm disappointed in them…" Minato told her, sighing. He glanced at Haru thinking, 'Haru… When will you learn that you can trust us?'

* * *

* Naruto & Kisame: Some Hours Later *

The two Akatsuki ninjas were hiding behind a waterfall to get some rest. Kisame had just told Naruto about his mission and how it was doomed to fail from the start. That Pain really wanted to know if he could fight his village. Naruto took it rather well, "Of course it was doomed from the start… Only someone as crazy as Madara would take on all that talent by himself it was one of his tests or was this Pain's idea?"

Kisame was sitting on a rock nodding at his partner, "Pain thought it up, he wanted to see how you'd handle the situation and was pleased. You were in the heart of Konoha, fought the top tier of the village, and even escaped the Hokage's grasp. Those feats are nothing but amazing." He took his sword from off his back and placed it in his lap, "Our orders have somewhat changed."

"To what?"

Smiling Kisame told him, "Kill Orochimaru. But now instead of capturing the Kyuubi… We'll be capturing the Yonbi jinchuriki."

"Where will he be hiding at? I heard that he left the village." Naruto said to him. Kisame started to pet Samehada and Naruto saw the sword move despite being covered with bandages, "Your mission to capture the Kyuubi was basically getting us warmed up while Pain searched for both Orochimaru and the Yonbi. As it turns out he found the Yonbi first, he'll tell us where at the meeting later."

"I see." Was all Naruto said. Kisame looked from Samehada to Naruto and back again, this caused Naruto to ask, "What is it?"

Kisame curiously took Samehada by the handle and said, "Wanna test that luck of yours?" Naruto raised a brow at that question and the next thing to happen was Kisame saying, "Catch." and he lightly tossed Samehada to Naruto.

* * *

* Konoha: Hokage Tower: Morning *

Minato was at his desk and Hinata was standing on the other side and the Black Mamba was laying on the desk. Minato had his hands folded on the desk asking, "Tell me… Why didn't you tell me that you saw Naruto leave?"

He could see that Hinata was very nervous and she said, "I-I-I just wanted to speak with Naruto-kun alone…"

"If he was captured Hinata then you could've done that without worry." He replied, Hinata immediately shook her head, "No! If he is captured… Then I know that I wouldn't be alone to talk with Naruto-kun. I just wanted it to be me and him, no ANBU listening, no one watching us, no you there Hokage-sama." He continued to watch her and she continued to talk, "Naruto-kun didn't hurt me, he only fought back because Kiba and Shino showed up to capture him."

Minato asked calmly, "Isn't that what you want? For us to capture him and bring him home where it's safe?"

Hinata looked at him and said to him, "For how long Hokage-sama? How long can we keep Naruto-kun safe until someone like the Raikage, Tsuchikage, or worse the people of this village demand that he's executed?" Hinata looked down at the floor and continued, "I thought that if I could help bring Naruto-kun back home that I could protect him from everyone… Haru believes that too." She looked back up at Minato asking, "Hokage-sama if I may." Minato nodded to her and she said, "Could you guarantee Naruto-kun's safety if we do bring him home?"

The silence that hung in the air was all the answer she needed. Minato said, "You're right Hinata-chan, Naruto has done too much damage. I can no longer protect my own son. I've known that for years, Arashi and Kushina both know this as well. I was just wondering how long you and your friends would believe that you can protect him. My heart bleeds that I cannot protect him, it really does... Life isn't always easy Hinata-chan."

Hinata's hands trembled a little and she said, "Naruto-kun asked me to go with him." Minato rose an eyebrow at that asking, "So why are you still here?"

"Hokage-sama, in all honesty over the past three years I always knew the answer to that. I wanted to go with Naruto-kun… I was ready to throw my headband away to be with him…" Hinata said, Minato has never seen this side of her before, "But then…" she paused for a moment and touched the sword, "I thought about the long run in that moment he asked me… I asked myself what next?"

Interested he asked, "What was the next step?"

The look in her eyes softened and she said, "I'm not going to convince Naruto-kun to return to Konoha, nor will I join the Akatsuki with him."

Minato and Hinata both smiled and he whispered, "You found another way then?" Hinata nodded at his question. Minato leaned back in his chair telling her, "I'm giving you another chance Hinata-chan, don't let me down."

Hinata bowed and said, "Arigatou Hokage-sama!"

He stood up and said, "I've already told Kushina, but your squad is on standby until your three teammates can heal. Kiba wasn't that hurt, nor was Shino, Akamaru however has a few broken ribs. So for now just do what you normally do." Hinata nodded and he asked, "Oh by the way. Is there anything else you want to tell me about Naruto? Abilities, personality, some jutsu you might've overlooked?"

Hinata didn't make any kind of motion, any kind of face, she just stood there and answered, "No."

"Got it. You can go now Hinata-chan."

She again bowed and walked up to the desk taking the Black Mamba and left the room. Jiraiya came away from the wall as if he was a part of it, "You know she was lying about that last part."

"Yeah. She's not going to betray Naruto at all." He looked at his sensei saying, "I won't force it out of her."

Jiraiya mentioned, "You know that holding back on even a bit of information could lead to death?"

"I do."

"So why not find out?" Jiraiya asked raising an eyebrow.

Minato simply replied, "I have an idea of what's behind that eye patch. Just based off of what you told and Arashi told me there can be only one explanation to how he can do what he can. Naruto has to have a byakugan under that eye patch. I just don't have any concrete evidence to back up my theory." Jiraiya was a bit surprised by what Minato said, but before he could ask anymore Minato said, "I have to go, Gaara and his team will be leaving Konoha now and I have to go see them off."

Jiraiya responded, "Alright... I'll be here, I guess."

Smiling at him Minato replied, "Of course you will." and he left his office.

* Konoha Hospital: An Hour Later *

Opening her eyes slowly, Haru held her hand up when she was assaulted by bright rays of light. Sitting up she clenched her side, "Ow that hurts." she suddenly realized, "Wait… What the hell?" looking around the room she saw her mother sitting in a chair next to her reading a book. Kushina knew that her daughter had awakened, but didn't say anything. Haru asked, "Kaa-san? What's going on?"

Kushina closed her book and looked at her smiling, "You're okay… You're in the hospital."

"What? why?" she tried to get up, but her legs felt heavy. Pulling her blankets off she saw that she was in a hospital gown and there were sealing markings all over her legs, "What the hell is this!" Kushina lightly hit her daughter on the head, "No cursing Haru-chan."

"Gomen. But what the hel- I mean heck is this?" she asked pointing to the seals. Kushina answered, "Your father. After disobeying his orders yesterday twice-"

"Yesterday! I've been out for a whole day!"

Kushina nodded, "Yes… Haru you lost control again you went into your second stage and almost destroyed the cemetery." Haru's eyes widened in shock, "You fought Naruto in that form, but from what Hinata-chan told us is that Naruto was winning that fight." Haru looked down at her legs almost about to cry. Kushina got out of her chair and hugged her, "No one said that controlling these beasts would be easy, but the Kyuubi is different. It hates that it's being used and that hate has grown inside of him since being controlled by Madara."

Haru let a tear roll down her cheek, "Kaa-san… I can't use that power again… I heard him baiting me into using its power. I-I-I…" Kushina started to stroke her daughter's hair, "There, there no one was hurt. Gaara-kun, your tou-san and myself were able to stop you before it got worse. Your friends are wondering if you're okay." She smiled and pointed, "Look." Haru looked to where her mother pointed and saw a bouquet of different colored rose flowers on the nightstand.

"Gaara-kun picked those out from the Yamanaka flower shop. He told me that they were just freshly picked."

Haru blushed and looked at her mother, "When was he here?"

Kushina frowned a bit, "Earlier this morning, but he and his team have to leave soon by your tou-san's orders. Your tou-san wasn't pleased with your actions yesterday."

"What! But it was my fault in the first place!" She shouted and tried to get out of her bed, but the seals wouldn't let her. Kushina said, "Your tou-san knows this…"

Haru stopped and asked, "He does? Then why is he sending Gaara-kun away so quickly?"

"Haru-chan look at it from your father's position. Instead of doing what was best for both of you by trying to convince you to turn back he instead went along with it. Your father is right, what if Kisame was there instead of Naruto? What would've happened if Gaara-kun was captured or, heaven forbid, you?" Kushina tried to explain, "I wasn't happy with your choice either Haru… I'm not upset with Gaara-kun, but you. You put a fellow jinchuriki at risk as well as your friends. Your tou-san feels the same way." Kushina saw Haru look saddened again, "I'm not saying this to be mean Haru-chan. I'm saying this to make you see reason. Everyone cares about you and they will do anything to protect you… However they can't protect you if you keep going off looking for trouble."

The room became deathly quiet and Kushina ran her hand over Haru's legs saying, "Now let's go." Haru looked at her mother then to her legs seeing the seal was gone, "I think that you have to apologize to Gaara, your team, and most importantly your tou-san." Kushina had a spare kimono top in her right hand reached her other hand to her daughter asking, "Well do you want to go or not?"

Haru quickly took her mother's hand, but stopped and took a yellow rose from her bouquet, "Okay I'm ready!"

* Konoha Main Gate: Twenty Minutes Later *

Team Baki were at the gate that was now being repaired and they had six ANBU with them. Minato said to Gaara, "I thank you for your help yesterday Gaara. These ANBU will take you to the border to make sure that you're safe."

Temari bowed to him saying, "I'm sorry Hokage-sama for my brother's interference. If he really did trouble you please tell us and the appropriate actions will be taken."

Minato waved it off, "It's alright, he really was a great help. It's just that the situation should've been handled better." he looked at Gaara who had his arms crossed and was looking away from him. Minato politely bowed and said, "Please come again. Hopefully an event such as this won't occur."

Temari and Kankuro bowed, but they saw that Gaara didn't and Temari grabbed her brother behind his head and forced his head down saying, "Thank you for your hospitality Hokage-sama." They turned around to leave, but stopped when they heard another voice.

"Wait!"

They turned around and saw Haru running their way wearing a dark orange plain kimono and some sandals. When she got close Minato saw Kushina was standing behind their daughter. Haru stood in front of her father with a stern look in her eyes. Before he could ask what she was doing out of bed she hugged him quickly and tightly. This surprised him and she said low enough only for him to hear, "Gomen…" He stood still and heard her continue, "I just got riled up… I really wanted to bring him home and I let my emotion cloud my judgment. I see that now and I'll take punishment for my actions just don't punish the others for me being reckless…"

Minato looked at his wife seeing her smile at him, he slowly hugged her back asking, "You're not just-"

"No I'm not just telling you what you want to hear… I'm telling you what I mean. I promise tou-san that a I won't disobey the Hokage's orders like that again." she said hugging him tighter. Minato smiled again and rubbed the top of her head, "I get it, so can you trust my judgment next time?" he didn't get a verbal response and instead she just nodded into his chest, "Good, thank you Haru-chan." They let go of each other and he motioned his head over to Gaara.

Haru moved away from her father and walked over to Gaara, Kushina walked up to her husband and hugged him saying, "You're such a softie for your daughter."

Minato rubbed the back of his head telling her, "It's that power that daughters hold over their fathers."

Gaara saw Haru with her long blonde hair let down, her shining blue eyes, and her cute features. He asked, "How are you feeling?" Blushing a bit Haru answered, "I'm feeling a lot better. Kaa-san told me that you stopped me from hurting everyone. Arigatou Gaara-kun."

"I just thought, 'What Haru do in this situation' and I came up with a solution." He told her.

Kankuro whispered to his sister, "Hey does Gaara look way relaxed right now. I mean usually he's all tense."

Temari nodded, "He does seem like he's at ease, but I think that he's still a bit nervous being by a girl he likes." Kankuro was shocked muttering, "Like? Gaara? Her? What?"

Haru moved a few of strands of her hair behind her ear saying, "Maybe next time Gaara-kun I can really take you on a tour of my village. I haven't been home in three years so I might find some new things." she said grinning. Gaara nodded replying, "I'd like that. Next time you are in Suna I'll show you around."

She replied, "I'd like that a lot Gaara-kun." she reached into her kimono and took out the yellow rose and attached it the left breast of Gaara's vest saying, "Ino told me a long time ago that a yellow rose means 'friendship and joy'." After placing it on his vest she finished, "And that you really care about someone." She stepped back and said, "There, brings some bright coloring into your attire."

Gaara touched the flower and gave her a small smile, "Arigatou… Take care of yourself Haru-chan."

She rubbed the back of her head a bit embarrassed replying, "You too Gaara-kun and again thanks for stopping me yesterday." Gaara took her hand and kissed the back of it this surprised his siblings and Haru. "Temari told me that this is the proper way to say goodbye to a girl." He said "Ja ne." he then turned around and started walking away. Temari and Kankuro left as well waving goodbye to everyone along with their leaf ANBU escorts.

Haru touched the back of her hand and her mother walked up behind her whispering, "He was kinda cool right there don't you think?"

Haru tensed up a bit, "Kaa-san!" Kushina laughed a bit at her daughter's reaction.

* Yakiniku Q *

At the BBQ restaurant Arashi, Hana, Itachi, Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, and Guy all were watching the meat getting prepared when Asuma asked, "So Naruto is much stronger than before?"

Hana nodded saying, "Yes from what Jiraiya-sama told us. Naruto displayed a variety of jutsu and other abilities that are difficult to master, even in three years."

Kakashi stated looking at his bandaged hand, "Well he is very gifted. Besides he knows the Shadow Clone jutsu and there isn't a doubt in my mind that he used it to his advantage in training." he gripped his fist and looked at everyone individually, "He's not just another run of the mill nuke-nin; he's a genuine article and we can't let our students just blindly rush in to fight him."

Kurenai looked down at the table and said, "Like Kiba and Shino?"

Itachi told her, "Kakashi-san didn't mean anything by it. He is right though, Naruto is far stronger than we initially figured, and Kakuzu is by no means a push over. So it stands to reason also that with what Naruto's learned here in Konoha he would've used with him over the past three years." Guy started to move the meat around so it wouldn't burn, "From what we discussed it seems like his body is indestructible, he has a kind of sixth sense that allows him to know of oncoming attacks, he has multiple lives, he knows a variety of high level ninjutsu, even kinjutsu, teleportation ability, strong taijutsu, genjutsu doesn't work on him, and from what Kurenai-san's student Hinata said Naruto was able to fight off Haru in her beast form easily."

Asuma asked out loud, "How do you fight someone like that?"

"Easy."

Everyone looked at Arashi who had remained quiet up until now, he answered, "Strike first and fast. It's basic, however it'll work. His reaction time is fast but both Guy and Lee were able to hit him and Hana and her ninken struck him as well. Naruto isn't all powerful."

"The only ones who can do something like that," Kurenai began "are yourself, Itachi, Kakashi, Guy, and the Hokage. It's not really something the rest of us can do that easily."

Itachi told him, "A lot of us here… though it's painful for some to admit it, Naruto is stronger than a few of us here at this table."

The table became quiet. Arashi agreed, "Itachi is only saying what we're all thinking. Naruto failed today because we outnumbered him, that is the truth one on one the outcome would be different. Which is why we need to use teamwork to stop him."

"Not easy seeing as how his teammate is Kisame Hoshigaki." Kakashi said.

"Naruto has cast his hand… What will the Hokage do next?" Guy asked Arashi.

Everyone looked at him wondering if he'd say anything, he sighed and said, "For the moment now he wants the village on alert as well as focusing on Haru's protection. That's all I know."

Kakashi said, "Minato-sensei told me that my team is on a hold for now."

Asuma took out his lighter and started flicking it, "We're going on a mission tomorrow morning."

"My team is on the injury list for now." Kurenai said.

Guy told everyone, "Me and my team leave on a mission tonight."

Itachi told them, "I'm back on ANBU duty as soon as our lunch meeting is over."

"That's how it is." Arashi said out loud. "I guess he'll make me stay back for awhile to watch over Haru and to make sure she doesn't pull a stunt like yesterday."

Hana said jokingly, "That's going to be difficult even for you." The rest of the jounin smiled thinking about the blonde kunoichi, Kakashi pointed to the food, "Looks done, so shall we eat?"

Everyone started taking meat off the grill and onto their plates. All together they chorused, "Itadakimasu!"

* * *

* Akatsuki Base *

In one room were all the holographic images of the Akatsuki. Pain adressed to each group, _"Deidara, Sasori. Have you two found the jinchuriki yet?"_

Deidara said, _"We found out that he went on a diplomatic mission to Konoha, but should be back soon."_

Sasori continued, _"My informant told me that he should be back within three days depending on their movement. However things can change what with Kisame and Naruto's recent involvement in the village."_

_"Is that a accusation I hear?" _Kisame replied.

Pain said, _"None the less. Deidara, Sasori remain where you are until you get word from your informant that they have reached the village."_

The two Akatsuki ninjas nodded and he turned his attention to Kakuzu and Hidan, _"How much did you collect?"_

Hidan shouted, _"Oi why do we have to get the fucking money!"_

_"Enough for a small army," _Kakuzu answered, ignoring his companion,_ "but not enough for supplies. As it is right now we'd have only a mercenary army for a short amount of time."_

Pain nodded, understanding the situation, _"Then you two will have to capture higher ranked nuke-nins as well as some registered bounty ninjas."_ Kakuzu said, _"Understood."_

_"Zetsu did you find anything on the whereabouts of the snake?"_ Pain asked.

Zetsu cheerful side answered, _"Nope, he might've put up a barrier so that we don't find him."_ his other half spoke afterward, _"It's annoying really."_

Pain told Zetsu, _"Just keep looking. When he comes out of hiding alert me."_ Finally his eyes fell on Kisame and Naruto, _"You two I've told of your mission to capture the Yonbi. He's hiding out in Ishigakure, but he won't be there for long, so go now and capture him."_ He looked at Zetsu, _"His clone will be waiting for you two and will guide you to his hideout."_

Kisame asked, _"Can he transform?"_

Zetsu's black half answered, _"From his training that we observed he can unleash the beast. For how long it is unclear."_

_"This'll be fun" _Kisame noted_ "considering what I just found out."_

Kakuzu asked, _"What is it?"_ Everyone looked over at Naruto, seeing something on his back.

When they realized the appearance difference between Kisame and Naruto, Pain said, _"Naruto, it seems that you've become far stronger now."_ He rose his arm shouting, _"Now that this meeting is over with. Everyone go and do your job!"_

The holograms disappeared one by one. Akatsuki were now on the hunt.

* * *

(A/N)

Next chapter will be about Naruto and Kisame vs Roshi, Deidara and Sasori vs Team Baki, and I should have this chapter up sometime next month. My new semester at college started so I'll work when I can! Thank you for reading!

**(Updated A/N)**

I should've done this at the beginning, but forgot about it. It's concerning the Kisame/Samehada situation. Let me start off by saying that Kisame isn't parting with his beloved sword and is actually testing out a theory he has and is showing what he's done to the rest of the Akatsuki and I promise that in the next chapter I'll explain why he did what he did in this chapter and he will be using Samehada when he fights Roshi


	37. Akatsuki vs Jinchuriki

Chapter 37: Akatsuki vs Jinchuriki

Sorry for the very late update, things are a bit hectic right now with school and what not. If this chapter has some spelling problems or anything else I apologize my BETA **argentorum **will be on leave for awhile so this chapter and possibly next one will be fixed later next month.

By the way there is a POLL up on my profile, if you get the chance please vote. Thank you for waiting paitently.

* * *

* Konohagakure: Hokage's Tower *

Haru and Hinata rushed at each other, Haru was throwing a bunch of punches and kicks and Hinata just evaded and blocked. Hinata pulled back her right hand and did a palm thrust and Haru pulled her right fist back and when the two collided chakra shot out from the two both feeling the force of the other's attack. They jumped away from each other and Hinata did some handsigns shouting, "Lightning Style: Lighting Dance!" electricity shot out of her fingertips and the lightning arches shot off the ground heading toward Haru.

Countering Haru took a deep breath and shot out a vacuum of wind that hit the lighting sending it flying in the air. Hinata ran around the wind and pulled her palm back to strike, Haru saw her coming and pulled out a scroll strapped to her leg and unraveled it smoke blew out from it and she had the Kubikiribōchō in her hand and she used it to block Hinata's palm strike. She pushed Hinata back and sliced horizontally and cut her in half.

Haru saw Hinata turn into two blocks of wood and held her sword in both hands listening for any kind of movement from her friend. Trees outlined their fighting area and she heard a faint movement and turned around in time seeing Hinata lunge forward with her sword in hand, Haru swung the Kubikiribōchō at Hinata and she swung her Black Mamba at her. The two swords hit causing sparks to fly into the air both in a deadlock staring the other down.

'Hinata has gotten stronger physically as well.' Haru thought to herself, Hinata quickly pushed Haru back just enough to knock her off balance and ducked down tripping Haru. As she fell Haru swung the Kubikiribōchō and Hinata jumped back just in time to avoid getting hit, Haru let go of her sword and brought her hands together shouting, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Smoke surrounded Haru and Hinata activated her byakugan and saw twenty clones were standing around Haru. The clones ran out from the smoke and Hinata charged at them slicing a few down and avoiding the wild strikes of others, Hinata jumped over one clone and kicked off of it's back and sliced another clone down. While in mid air Hinata tossed her sword at a clone that tried to tackle her and watched it disappear.

Hinata spun around and the remaining clones saw in Hinata's right hand was the rasengan, before any of the clones could react Hinata slammed the rasengan in the ground shaking and cracking the ground beneath them and making all the clones and Haru lose balance. Taking this opportunity Hinata ran for her sword and quickly picked it up and destroyed the remaining clones. While Hinata was destroying the clones Haru got back up to her feet and tossed the Kubikiribōchō at her watching as it started spinning toward Hinata.

Destroying the last clone Hinata saw the sword coming at her and jumped over it just barely missing her, but she didn't have time to react to Haru who was running full speed and jumped at her drop kicking Hinata in her stomach. The Hyuuga hit the ground and bounced a few times before coming to a stop, Haru took out a kunai and ran at Hinata. She could see Haru running at her and also saw her sword was within arms reach, Hinata reached out and grabbed her sword and in the process Haru tackled her and the two kunoichis rolled around the ground. When they stopped Haru mounted ontop of Hinata with her kunai held at Hinata's throat and Hinata had her sword pointed just above Haru's left breast neither one moving.

"Okay stop."

Haru got off of Hinata and helped her up, they both looked over and saw Kushina and Kurenai were standing by watching the fight. Kushina asked Kurenai, "What did you think of their little sparring match?" Kurenai had her arms crossed and told her, "If you're really trying to find your own way Hinata you should incorporate more jutsu into your arsenal. Maybe ask Kakashi-san to show you some more Lightning ninjutsu."

Hinata and Haru were standing next to each other and Hinata told her, "I'll ask him when I see him again Kurenai-sensei."

Kushina told Haru, "I think you should focus more on using your senjutsu. Though you don't have the byakugan like Hinata, senjutsu will allow you to pinpoint your enemy sooner. Ask Jiraiya more about senjutsu, because knowing you Haru you probably just heard the keywords in the description."

Haru stuck her tongue out playfully and lightly bopped herself on the head, "You got me there."

Kushina continued, "Overall you two did very well for a quick spar." Kurenai agreed with her. Hinata asked the two, "Kushina-sensei, Kurenai-sensei. I planned on going to see my father later and was wondering if there was anything else you needed of me?"

The two kunoichis looked at each other and Kurenai told Hinata, "Nothing at the moment so you're free for the rest of the day."

Hinata bowed saying, "Arigatou. I'll be leaving now then." she looked at Haru asking, "Let's go get something to eat tonight, we didn't really get to celebrate your return properly." Haru smiled agreeing with that idea, "Yeah it'll be a girl's night out, we'll invite Sakura. Arashi said that Ino and TenTen are going on a mission, Ino I think might leave soon and TenTen and her team left yesterday."

"Then it will be just the three of us then." Hinata said, "I'll be back later tonight okay?" Hinata told her, Haru agreed and watched Hinata leave. Kurenai also took her leave telling Kushina that she was going to go check up on Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru and left the mother and daughter alone. Once they were gone Haru walked up to her mother asking, "Kaa-san there was something I wanted to ask you."

"What is it?" Kushina asked tilting her head a bit. Haru grinned and tossed a kunai to her mother, "Would you be my sparring partner?"

Kushina smiled back and she ripped the sleeves off her kimono leaving her arms bare and used the ripped sleeves to tie the bottom of her kimono tightly to her legs, "Dattebane!"

Haru pulled out a few shurikens from her pouch and the two got ready to fight.

* * *

* Ishigakure *

Zetsu's large fly trap appendage grew out of the ground next to a rocky area, it opened up and Zetsu's arm came out and it set down a small Gamakichi, the toad quickly hopped out of his hand and he opened his mouth and both Naruto and Kisame crawled out and Kisame had to once again pull Samehada from his mouth, "You need to work on that jutsu toad so I don't have to keep letting go of my sword."

Once he took his sword out Gamakichi said to him, "Bite me ya ass!" Kisame gave him a toothy grin commenting, "I'll roast you first shorty." Gamakichi just said back, "I'd like to see you try."

Meanwhile Naruto watched as Zetsu quickly sank into the ground, Zetsu had to still go find Orochimaru and didn't have time to fill them in on where the Yonbi jinchuriki was hiding out at which left the clone he left behind to direct them. Naruto and Kisame both had new attire on since their cloaks were destroyed and Naruto noted how these ones were actually black kimono tops with the red clouds on it, but the right sleeves were a reversed color scheme. Once Kisame stopped arguing with Gamakichi he asked Naruto, "Where is Zetsu's clone?"

With his byakugan activated Naruto said, "He's heading this way right now." The clone rose out of the ground the white half of Zetsu with that creepy smile they all have. Since it only had it's left side of it's body he pointed to one section telling the two, "He's over here, so far he hasn't sensed me." Gamakichi jumped on Naruto's shoulder and they walked into the direction the clone was leading them.

Kisame ordered, "Tell us what to expect." Nodding the clone told them, "His specialty lies in using Fire, Earth, andLava Release, he's very strong despite his age, and has a lot of years in ninja experience. He has a good control of his tailed beast just not complete control." They began walking up a very large hill and looked down into a valley seeing how trees were growing beneath the rocky ground. They were up high and they saw an man walking heading further north, the clone pointed, "That's Roshi the Yonbi Jinchuriki. Well I'll let you two handle things from here." the clone began to sink into the ground until it disappeared entirely.

Kisame and Naruto walked down the hill heading toward Roshi. Naruto's clothes started to move around and Jyoki mask appeared out of Naruto's sleeve, it made it's growling noise and it spat out a lava stream. How the lava came out it landed ahead of Roshi blocking his path and surrounding most of the area destroying everything around it.

Roshi came to a stop and turned to face his attacker. The older man was wearing a long-sleeved purple shirt and pants, with a mesh-armour shirt underneath, and brown armour. He also had a bag tied on his waist, he had a large headpiece consisting of a three pointed crown-like ridge, bearing both his Iwagakure forehead protector and ring, and a prominent black piece of armour running across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. He had a thick red beard and a messy crop of red hair tied into a top ponytail. He carried another pack and dropped it on the ground, "Looks like I have some whelps that need to be taught a lesson in manners."

He saw his attackers seeing the Akatsuki logo on their attire, "Akatsuki huh? From what I was told the Akatsuki have been doing some pretty bold things and I heard a rumor that you're after jinchuriki."

Kisame nodded, "That's true, so we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Please make this difficult."

Roshi cracked his neck, then his knuckles, "I'd be happy to oblige you." He quickly did some handsigns shouting, "Lava Style: Scorching Stream Rock!" He spat out a lava balls that hardened becoming molten rocks. The large number of rocks shooting their way left little for them to escape, however Naruto's Jyoki came out from his sleeve again and spat out the same stream of lava in a wide spray that hit the molten rocks blocking and knocking them to the ground.

'He can use Lava Release as well? That's the Hokage's boy, Naruto Namikaze…' he thought seeing as how lava covered most of the battlefield. Kisame jumped high into the air with his hands clasped together, "Water Style: Water Shockwave!" water erupted from Kisame's mouth and surrounded his body creating a giant vortex. Roshi looked up seeing the water viciously swirl and shoot down at the lava. When lava met water it quickly shot steam everywhere, Roshi jumped in the air avoiding the water that almost caught him and sent chakra to his feet so he could stand on it and tried his best to surf the raging water. The steam blanketed the area and he couldn't see very well.

Roshi felt the water stop moving and kept on alert, he was in his battle stance and could hear footsteps atop the water. The steam was still to thick and he suddenly saw a glowing bright light and a lava glob came flying his way, he jumped in the air avoiding it and heard the loud hissing sound of the lava hitting the water. He didn't pay attention and was suddenly hit on his shoulder and was sent flying back into water which was very hot. While underwater he dared not to open his eyes or else his eyes would be scalded, his body was healing from the burns that nearly covered his body from the boiling hot water. He jetted out of the water and finally opened his eyes still met with the hot steam.

"Can't fight in such an environment can you?"

It was Kisame's voice, Roshi stayed on guard again constantly looking around for any sign of either the Akatsuki. Roshi had enough of the steam and he did a few handsigns and slammed his hands on top of the water shouting, "Earth Style: Moving Earth Core!" the ground lifted above the water and above the steam going high into the air. Looking up he saw both Naruto and Kisame were standing on the large block shaped earth that rose out of the ground.

Naruto and Kisame stood up straight and Roshi saw a small toad jump down in front of the two and smoke surrounded the small toad and when it cleared he saw that it was much bigger than both Kisame and Naruto. Roshi took up a battle stance and Naruto and Kisame both rushed the old man head on, despite his age he was able to hold his own against the two blocking and evading their strikes. Gamakichi jumped high into the air and he brought his hands together, his cheeks puffed out and he spat out a large ball of fire that headed straight for Roshi.

Reacting Naruto grabbed Kisame and they disappeared and Roshi slammed his foot on the ground and rocks shot up the form of a large shield that protected him, "Earth Style: Gorilla Protection!" When the fire cleared the rock shield was in the form of a gorilla's face with the mouth opened, Roshi adjusted the shield and placed his palm on the inside of the shield shouting, "Lava Style: Gorilla Lava Bomb!" The mouth of the shield blasted out a giant molten lava rock at Kisame and Naruto who were by the edge of the block. Naruto had his platinum powder fall out of his sleeves and aimed his hands at the jutsu heading his way and it shot up creating a thick wall that successfully blocked the lava jutsu.

Roshi was stunned seeing how it was blocked. Naruto had the powder float above both his and Kisame's head, "Platinum has a high melting point." Naruto said, he began moving his hands around and the powder started to morph. Roshi couldn't keep his eye on it since Gamakichi was off to his side and shot out a fire ball that almost hit him.

Kisame left Samehada on his back and ran forward at Roshi whispering, "Water Style: Water Fang Bullet!" Roshi lost his footing when the giant block they were all fighting on shook and parts of the block exploded and he saw water shooting out almost hitting him. Roshi looked up in time and avoided Kisame who thrusted his giant sword his way, but beneath the wrappings two scale like spikes shot out and barely scratched his face and arm. Roshi backflipped away from Kisame and stopped his foot on the ground making a tremor, that made Kisame loose his balance. He jumped at Kisame and punched him in the stomach making him skid back and followed up with a head kick that Kisame blocked with one arm that yet again made him skid across the ground. Ready to attack again, Roshi pulled his fist back to hit the blue skinned man again, but he felt something wrap around his arm and he saw the powder wrapped around his entire forearm.

He looked at Naruto seeing how the platinum took the form of whip, Naruto yanked on the powder and it lifted Roshi in the air and he directed it and it slammed Roshi into the ground. The platinum powder came back to Naruto and he shaped it into a giant drill and had it hover above the hole he slammed Roshi into, it started to spin and it slammed into the ground. Kisame watched and he heard Naruto shout, "Kisame! Thirty feet behind you! He's trying to get away!"

Turning around Kisame held his hands together and slammed his body into the ground. Naruto ran over to Gamakichi and jumped on his back, "Oi while I have time how's the clone doing?" Gamakichi answered feeling the ground shake beneath him, "The clone is learning as quickly as you do, it has already re-read the scroll."

"Good. Now quickly what have you learned?" Naruto asked. Gamakichi told Naruto, "Sage Mode uses Senjutsu as you already know, but it can't be seen by anyone who hasn't trained in it. Like I told you before it increases your strength both in physical and jutsu wise. There is a limit though you have to remain perfectly still in order to enter Sage Mode."

Naruto nodded, "I see and Haru is able to use Sage Mode then?" Gamakichi nodded and Naruto said, "Then that's my angle I'll just have to make sure that she doesn't sit still."

"There is another thing you should know." Gamakichi added, Naruto looked down at Gamakichi, "The Kyuubi won't allow her to fuse with the elders. The bypass of sitting still and gathering during battle is used by the Amphibian jutsu where a toad fuses with her shoulder, but the Kyuubi won't allow that."

Naruto commented, "That's good news then."

"She found a way around it thought." Gamakichi explained, "Shadow Clones, she uses them to gather the chakra and then disperses them to replenish her sage chakra, but she can only use so many at a time."

Naruto asked, "How many?"

"Round about five. I can't be certain though."

Naruto nodded and felt the ground shake again, "Kisame has him. Look head back and find out something for me and I'll need you to do something else as well."

Gamakichi asked, "What is it?" Naruto jumped off of Gamakichi and told him, "I want to know more about two certain things. The first I want to know about these ninja brothers called the Gold and Silver from Kumo and the second is the one I'm really interested in finding out about, it's about a religion called Jashinism."

"Jashinism?" Gamakichi repeated, Naruto nodded, "Yeah one of the Akatsuki is a follower of this religion. Supposedly he's immortal, if so then Hidan fit in with my plan and If not then I'll have to go with an alternative motive."

"Okay! What was the other thing?" Gamakichi asked. Naruto leaned close and whispered to Gamakichi and the toad nodded, "Got it." and disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Naruto had his platinum powder fall to his feet and he removed his kimono top and let it fall to the ground, his chest bare the threads on his back opened up and the four black masses fell to the ground and the masks strapped to Naruto's waist were grabbed by the threading. Taking their forms the Bannai, Jyoki, Daikijin, and Ondekomen were standing around Naruto and the masks completely repaired. The masks Naruto has are made from a special material that repair themselves by feeding off chakra.

Naruto summoned out four clones and immediately the threads on their backs opened up and the Four Oni jumped into a clone and the masks stitched into the clones' faces and Naruto said in a low voice, "Forbidden Style: Four Oni of Chaos." Each of the masks let out their own noise and Naruto said, "We need Roshi alive. Now go!" The Oni ran into the direction Naruto pointed and Naruto was right behind them.

* * *

* Land of Wind: Same Time *

Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro made it to the desert and started to cross the desert, they made great time in passing through thanks to Kankuro's puppet which he made some adjustments to make it faster. Kankuro puffed out his chest and said proudly, "And that is why puppets are awesome. Salamander can be used as both a defensive puppet and now a fast maneuverable transportation."

Temari sighed, "We get it Kankuro you're a genius." she said sarcastically. Kankuro remarked, "What do you know? You fling a fan and summon wind I've thought up hundreds of ways to get around that."

"That sounds like a challenge." she said looking at him, unbeknownst to the two they bumped into Gaara who was standing still. Kankuro asked, "Hey you okay Gaara?"

He didn't answer and looked around cautiously, "We've been followed." without another word both Temari took out her fan and Kankuro took out two of his three scrolls strapped to his back. They put their backs to each other and Temari asked, "How many?"

Gaara answered, "Not sure, but I know that we've been followed." Kankuro opened up one of his scrolls and shouted, "Crow!" smoke came out of the scroll and a four armed, three eyed puppet came out wearing a torn poncho. Gaara made his gold sand come out of the gourd and create an his Third Eye jutsu and Kankuro had Crow hold onto it as it went up into the air and had it rotate to survey the area.

Temari asked, "Gaara do you see anyone?" Gaara could see the terrain and suddenly Gaara shouted, "Damn!"

An explosion erupted above them where Crow was and they shielded themselves from the shockwave coming from it. Kankuro looked up and saw once the smoke cleared a gold shimmer, Gaara had his hand pointed upward and had his eye jutsu expand creating a shield to protect the puppet. Kankuro retracted his puppet and Gaara pulled his gold sand back and he pointed toward the dunes, "Two hiding over there."

Temari bit her thumb and ran her blood on her fan, "Summoning Jutsu: Quick Beheading Dance!"A giant white weasel came out with a eyepatch over it's left eye and it was holding onto a sickle as long as it's body. The weasel started to ride the wind and it disappeared helping to create a giant burst of wind that was traveling toward where their enemy was hiding. The sand picked up to and was swirling around extremely quickly. The moment it hit the dune an explosion of sand shot everywhere and they saw two shadow figures jump into opposite directions and continued moving away from the wind that cut up the sand.

Gaara quickly shot his gold sand out of his gourd and had it follow one and his siblings attacked the other. Surfing on his gold sand he saw the figure took his stance and shot out two white birds at him, Gaara shot his gold sand up and when the birds hit they blew up, making his gold sand take him high into the air he saw his attacker riding atop a giant white owl.

He could see that he was wearing the Akatsuki cloak and a straw hat, "Well you did me the favor of trying to split you up from your team."

"You're with the Akatsuki aren't you?" Gaara said. Removing his hat and letting it fall to the sand below he said, "My name is Deidara and I'm here to capture you."

Looking at his headband Gaara said, "You're from Iwagakure." Deidara smiled and told him, "I was 'from' Iwagakure, but they don't appreciate good art. Now enough talk." he pushed back his cloak revealing two open pouches and was about to shove his hands into them, but Gaara stopped him by asking, "Do you know where Naruto Namikaze is?"

Deidara froze momentarily and was a bit surprised, "What is he to you?"

"Answer me." Gaara said plainly. Deidara put his hands in his pouches and thought of an idea, "How about this if you best me in this fight then I'll tell you where he is and where he will be heading soon."

Gaara had his gold sand ready, "And if I lose I die?"

Smiling even wider Deidara just said, "Oh you won't die just yet I need you alive, but yeah if you lose you won't get your answer." Gaara had his sand slowly create two giant heads of the Shukaku and he told him, "Well then I guess that I'll just have to win."

* * *

* Ishigakure: Two Hours Later *

The area was covered in water, lava, and fire, jagged edges of the earth were protruding from the ground, craters everywhere of varying sizes, and large gashes in the ground. Naruto was standing atop one a tree that was currently on fire and was scanning the area with his own eye as he was getting headaches from overusing his byakugan and Kisame was standing on some water he created looking around as well. Naruto's four Oni clones were also running around the area, despite his age and how much chakra the old man had he was no match against his attackers.

Roshi was hiding behind a tree holding onto his arm breathing heavily and thinking to himself, 'This is all bad, these two won't go down and those clones work in tandem and I can't break them away from each other.' Not wanting to peak out for fear of being spotted, 'I'm actually shaking… That Namikaze how was it that he could find me everywhere I went? Then theres Kisame, that healing ability I've never seen anything like it before.' He gripped his arm feeling a cold chill go up his body, 'His sword ate Son Goku's chakra. I can't go into my version 2 stage otherwise he'll steal my chakra again and that Namikaze steals my regular chakra with those threads.' He decided to chance it and looked from out of his hiding spot and saw one of the four clones looking around.

'If I'm not mistaken that one turns it's body into steel.' After fighting the clones he's seen what each individual one is capable of and was able to tell their abilities based off of their masks, but no matter how hard he tried to bring one down one of the other ones would step in and defend. He was about to go out and attack, but stopped when he saw the one that could use magnetism show up next to the steel one.

'Damn.' Roshi hid back behind, but he heard a loud roaring sound. Looking up he saw one of the clones jumping down with threads shooting out of it's body, the old man jumped out of the way into the air and then saw the same clone appear in front of him and kick him and luckily Roshi was quick enough to block it. While in mid air he felt something hit him in the side and send him flying into the large boulder he hid behind.

Roshi saw the two clones were standing on top of the floating platinum powder the two looking down at him. He moved some of the large rocks off of himself and he closed his eyes slowing his breathing. The clones watched him carefully and saw a large red tail with spikes going down it, Roshi let out a battle cry as lava surrounded his body, 'Lava Style: Armor!' The one that let out a roar jumped away while the other one's skin turned into the black steel color. 'When it does that it can't hit me, but at the same time it won't feel the heat from my jutsu, then theres-'

He was cut off mid sentence when the platinum powder covered the rest of the steel clone's body making Roshi worried now. The clone and Roshi engaged into a quick battle and because of the added protection the clone wouldn't disperse when hit, so Roshi and the clone were fighting back and forth neither giving an inch in the back and forth battle. Roshi jumped away and was in the middle of doing a few handsigns when a blast of water hit him knocking him off his feet and sending steam everywhere. The water pressure was enough to keep him skidding across the ground until he smacked into another boulder.

Barely looking up he saw both Naruto and Kisame were standing side by side, the four clones gathered around the two all hunched over. Roshi dispelled his jutsu and the tail disappeared as well, he was breathing very heavily at this point his age was a factor now for him, though he was out to kill his attackers they wanted him alive and in which case needed to hold back their strength.

"Give up old man you can't win." Kisame said smirking at him. Roshi stood back up and took up his fighting stance again, "I will not falter! You two won't take me down that easily!" red chakra started to bubble around Roshi, "You two have pushed me to this point!" red skin started to form around him and his body bulked up and he began to change. Kisame, Naruto, and the Oni clones ran away seeing him transform.

Kisame grinned saying, "This is getting exciting!" Naruto touched his rig arm and smoke emerged above his arm as the Nuibari appeared, then the stitchings on his left palm opened up and his Black Mamba shot out and he grabbed it by it's handle. The stitchings on his back opened up and the clones dispersed leaving behind a blob of threads that quickly shot into him. The masks fell to the ground and Naruto let them lie there having needing to focus on the beast before them.

With the transformation complete the two Akatsuki ninjas saw a giant gorilla beast with yellow irides, white pupils, red fur, green skin, horns on its forehead as well as elongated canine teeth and spike-like protrusions on the four of its tails. The giant four tailed beast saw the two and let out a monstrous roar and Naruto could further see a big, round opening, from where it spits lava, and it doesn't seem to have a tongue. It slammed it's fist down at them, but they jumped away dodging the giant fist that came crashing down at them.

Rampaging the beast slammed it's fists everywhere trying to hit the two Akatsuki who were to quick and Naruto would use his Swift Release to get himself out of there quicker and get Kisame out of the way if he couldn't dodge in time. Yonbi started spitting out a large amount of lava that covered a large area, Naruto and Kisame appeared behind the Yonbi looking at how it beat it's hands against it's chest roaring.

Naruto told Kisame, "Hey we're going to have to take large portions of it's chakra."

Kisame nodded, "Yeah, that thing is just a mass of chakra. Actually we don't need to take a lot just enough to bring it to a slow or to it's knees." Yonbi turned around and saw them. Naruto told Kisame, "I got it's feet."

"Okay then I'll take it's back."

Yonbi punched out at them and they both evaded the attack and went about their plan.

Kisame ran up the Yonbi's arm and up to the head, the Yonbi looked and saw Kisame was on his shoulder and tried to grab Kisame with it's other hand. Kisame taunted the beast as he kept jumping on the giant ape seeing how sluggish it's reactions were, meanwhile Naruto was at the Yonbi's feet and linked his metal threads into the bottom of both his swords and tossed them both watching as both wrapped around both ankles of the biju, the Black Mamba stabbed into the unsuspecting Yonbi while the Nuibari went through both it's left and right legs it was at this point that the Yonbi noticed Naruto. It tried to grab Naruto, but he used his Swift style and disappeared taking his threads that were still attached to his body.

While it's eyes were on Naruto, Kisame had some of the spikes from his sword stab into the Yonbi's skin it took some time however it was able to work since the beast had tough skin. Naruto reappeared behind the Yonbi and used as much of his threads to wrap around it's tails, once in position both Naruto and Kisame shouted together, "Secret Ninjutsu: Massive Leech Chakra Jutsu!"

The Yonbi froze momentarily as chakra started to pour out of the stab marks from the swords of both Naruto and Kisame and the threads Naruto had wrapped around the tails. It forced itself to continue to stand and tried to grab Kisame who was on the back of it's neck, Kisame only ripped his sword out and slid further down it's back and did it again and Naruto pulled on the slack on his threads with all his strength to make the beast lose footing and fall to it's knees.

"Look at that, no jinchuriki can stand up to the two of us." Kisame said smiling since they syphoned so much chakra from the Yonbi that it couldn't even keep it's balance. Naruto watched as it was on it's hands and knees, the chakra they were absorbing was too much even for Kisame and Naruto decided to end this. He made his threads wrap around his forearms and grabbed a small scroll from his pouch, unraveling it he released the content of it and a brownish yellow sand like substance a very large quantity of it even more so than his platinum powder. He made a handsign and the strange sand shot over to the head of the beast, the sand took the form of a fox head that bit into the Yonbi's head. Kisame quickly took his sword out and jumped away while Naruto made the Dragon hand sign saying softly, "Magnet Style: Big Fox Bomb!"

A tiny explosive tag was mixed in with the sand and it created a tiny spark which created a massive explosion, the platinum powder shot up around Naruto shielding him from the blast the explosion was big enough to cover both the Yonbi and Naruto. Kisame barely escaped the explosion and was hit with the shockwave that knocked him out of the air and into the ground he used Samehada as a shield from the blast and saw the large mushroom cloud that formed from Naruto's attack, 'I guess that's what happens when you use that much TNT and metal dust together.' dust and smoke kicked up and Kisame was finally able to come out of hiding and he could see Naruto's platinum dome that turned back into it's powdery substance. Naruto stood up and his platinum powder went up his pant leg and into his body.

"Capture of the Yonbi Jinchuriki complete." said Naruto, Kisame nodded and they walked over to the crater and saw Roshi laying face down with Naruto's swords laying by him and his threads still around and in his legs. Kisame got close enough to grab Roshi, the second he grabbed him by the shoulder he Roshi's body turned to a bunch of rocks. Both Naruto and Kisame were surprised and the ground exploded out toward Kisame as Roshi jumped out with his biju's chakra surrounding him. Roshi was doing a drop kick hitting him square in the chest, Kisame dropped Samehada and he was kicked far and his chest was ripped open from the chakra cloak.

Roshi's had yellow irides and white pupils, his teeth were very long, and some horns were protruding from his forehead. He looked over and saw Naruto and rushed at him with such speed, Naruto disappeared and Roshi went crashing into a boulder. Naruto reappeared and thought, 'He's no longer in control.' Roshi pulled himself out of the boulder and charged Naruto again. Remaining calm Naruto looked at the ground and kicked Samehada up from the floor and quickly grabbed the sword's handle and swung it hitting Roshi square in the chest and with enough force to make him fly back into the boulder again at the same time he had stolen Roshi's chakra and shredding open the man's chest.

Naruto gripped the sword harder and Naruto's wounds began to heal and he was able to use his byakugan again, once he was healed he tossed Samehada close to Kisame, the sword began to crawl toward it's master to heal him as well. Feeling rejuvenated Naruto thought to himself, 'He did get hit by my explosion, but he waited until the last possible second to use the substitution jutsu.' His thread shot over to him going back into his body, the threads brought over his two swords and he took both swords in his hands.

The handle of Samehada was wrapped around Kisame's arm and chakra started to pour into him closing up the gapping wound in his chest. Feeling better he looked up and over at Naruto seeing all his physical wounds were healed, 'Naruto you really are a sly one. During those three years I didn't even notice it.' he looked at Samehada and picked up his sword, 'You've been feeding Samehada your own chakra for three years while Kakuzu and myself slept. I thought it was strange how Samehada would react to your chakra when you go all out, like back at Konoha.'

Roshi was laying down in the rocks holding his chest, ontop of having his chakra stolen the sword nearly cleaved his chest open. He heard footsteps and saw Naruto standing above him, "You can use that sword then too?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Naruto quickly stabbed both blades into Roshi's shoulders and watching him wince in pain and he felt even more of his chakra leave his body, "Kisame taught me how to syphon chakra from my enemies, so I'll be taking more of your chakra to make you weaker. I have more chakra than ever thanks to this battle." Roshi's eyes started to get heavy and he passed out. Naruto pulled his swords out of Roshi and used his threads to close up the open wounds over the old man's body, then made the threads tie up Roshi's arms behind his back and tied up his legs.

"Good capture."

Naruto looked over his shoulder seeing Kisame rip off his Akatsuki kimono showing the absence of the wound in his chest. Naruto noticed that all four of his masks were in his grasp and he handed them to Naruto who put them back on his sash, "You mind carrying him?" Naruto asked. Kisame didn't object and used Samehada to pick up the old man.

"I'd like to know Naruto…" Kisame asked not looking at him, but Naruto was looking at him, "How was it that you were able to give Samehada your chakra? I would've heard you approach me when I slept." This time he looked at Naruto.

Not answering verbally, Naruto's thread came out from his wrist waving in front of the shark man. Kisame grinned and said, "Now I see. That answers a lot."

Deciding to end the conversation, Naruto and Kisame both closed their eyes and focused their chakra into a thought waves, a minute went by and they both heard Pain's voice, _'Did you do it?'_

Kisame smiled thinking, _'Sure did.'_

_'What next?'_ asked Naruto

Pain told them, '_Head to our base it's a few days travel from where you are now, Deidara and Sasori should appear there as well with their capture too.'_

_'Four Akatsuki in one place? Isn't that dangerous?'_ Naruto asked. Pain just replied, _'It will be fine, just hurry before you're found out.'_ their connection was cut and Kisame just smiled at Naruto, "Well then let's go." He turned away and started to leave and Naruto followed close behind him.

* * *

* Land of Wind: Moments Later *

Gaara was flying high above the sky aboard his gold sand chasing after Deidara who was standing on a large white bird was dodging Gaara's gold sand that kept whipping out at him. Smiling Deidara opened the palm of his hands revealing a mouth in each hand, both hands spat out a lump of clay and he molded them in his hands creating two small birds with four wings. Tossing them he made the ram handsign and the two small clay birds grew three times their sizes and flew at amazing speeds at Gaara.

Deidara thought, 'Small and fast. Let's see your gold sand keep up with these.'

Gaara saw the birds flying at him and used his gold sand to latch onto the birds and Deidara blew the birds up making the gold sand knock back. Gaara was to busy to see, but Deidara made more of the clay sculptures making two clay shurikens. He tossed the small shurikens at Gaara and he made the 'Ram' handsign the small shurikens grew to twice the size of Deidara and were still going as fast as when they were smaller.

Blocking using his gold sand he made a large wall and the shurikens got stuck in it and blew up. Though he blocked it the force disrupted the gold sand Gaara was standing on. Flying around the gold wall Deidara was smiling and rolled up his left sleeve revealing ten small clay spiders, Gaara used his gold sand to try and capture him, but Deidara used his bird to avoid and fly above Gaara letting his clay spiders jump off and around Gaara's feet.

Before the spiders blew up Gaara jumped off his gold sand and summoned out more. Deidara was about to blow up the spiders, but stopped when Gaara jumped off onto another gold sand platform. Gaara looked back and wrapped his gold sand around the spiders and crushed them forcing an explosion. Deidara was impressed, for the past few hours their long range battle has been like a game. One never really got the advantage of the other.

Gaara and Deidara were both a hundred feet in the air staring the other down. Deidara said to him, "I didn't expect to have this much fun." He sighed asking the Suna nin, "I was actually curious as to why you want to know about our youngest member?"

"That's none of your concern." Gaara said to him and he aimed his hands at him. Deidara's clay bird he was standing on suddenly shook violently and he saw two sand spikes shooting out from beneath him. Looking down he saw that the sand and traveled all the way up from the ground and into the air piercing his clay bird's wings. He looked back at Gaara and saw a wave of gold sand coming his way and he leapt off his bird letting it exploding knocking both the sand and gold sand away. As Deidara fell he grabbed onto the sand that was still standing, he charged chakra to his feet and placed his feet on it, 'He can control normal sand too?' Gaara appeared behind Deidara and gold sand wrapped around him.

Gaara said in a low tone, "Just know that Naruto is a stronger opponent than you." he was about to grip his hand, "Golden Bur-" his gold sand expanded outward and he opened it up seeing smoke just come out from it. Coming out of his sand spikes were two clay snakes that wrapped around Gaara and Deidara dove out of the sand spike shouting, "Got you!"

The clay snakes exploded and the force was enough to knock Deidara into the desert sand below. Shaking his head to get the sand out of his hair he looked up and saw something surrounded in black smoke fall to the ground, "I hope he isn't dead." Deidara said to himself, he walked over to the smoke and stopped when he saw a burt shell in the shape of Gaara and gold sand shot out of the regular sand and wrapped around his right arm and Deidara was shocked, "Crap!"

A figure came out of the ground and he saw that it was Gaara who shouted, "Golden Burial!" Deidara felt his arm getting crushed and he pulled out his kunai and stabbed it into his arm ignoring the pain and used as much of his strength to rip his right arm off at the bicep. Distancing himself from Gaara he saw his body was glimmering with gold sand.

He understood now how Gaara was able to survive his explosive. Deidara said smiling a bit, "You used that gold sand to cover your body like another layer of skin." Gaara didn't answer him and Deidara kicked the sand a bit at his feet saying to Gaara, "You have the greatest advantage here, so then what will you do next?" the two continued to stare at each other, "Capture me? Kill me? Which is it? You're fighting a one armed ninja in your terrain and you obviously have the upper hand."

Sand crept up Deidara's body and he saw the sand was already covering his legs and some sand shot up to cover his left arm to, Gaara told him, "Why are you letting me capture you so easily?" Deidara looked behind Gaara and smiled, "Oh, that it's because of him."

Gaara was confused and looked behind him and saw the other Akatsuki member, but was shocked him the most was he had one foot on an unconscious Kankuro and Temari was wrapped up in the man's scorpion like tail. Gaara was in the middle of the two and the moment he took his eyes off of Deidara, the Akatsuki nin forced his way out of the sand and distanced himself from Gaara.

Sasori said to him, "You're taking to long, I don't like to keep people waiting Deidara." Looking around at the sand Deidara replied, "Right, right Master Sasori… Have you seen my arm?"

Gaara's eyes widened and he stared at Sasori, "Sasori of the Red Sand?"

Sasori replied, "So a baby like you knows who I am? I should feel honored." he looked Gaara up and down saying, "No doubt it was Grandma Chiyo who sealed the Shukaku inside of you." he kicked Kankuro down the dune away from him and used his tail and tossed Temari in the opposite direction. Gaara saw his siblings were still unconscious, "Let's see how well you can control that beast."

"Oi hold up!"

The two looked at Deidara who was pointing at Sasori with his only arm, "He's my capture, you have yours Master Sasori!"

Sasori scolded him, "You took to long, we're suppose to meet with Kisame and Naruto in a few days. They already have the Yonbi." Gaara couldn't believe that they were going to meet up with Naruto soon. From what it seems their attention was not on him any longer and Gaara slowly gathered sand unnoticed around both the Akatsuki ninjas.

"We can still make the time! I just need to find my damn arm! So don't capture him just stall him and I'll pick up where I left off!" Deidara shouted at him. Sasori told him, "I'm not going to-" Sand burst up encasing both Deidara and Sasori. Gaara quickly ran over to Kankuro and wrapped his sand around him and shot sand over toward Temari picking her up as well.

'I have to get to Sunagakure.' he thought, the minute he was going to finish off Sasori, "Desert Funeral!" he gripped his hand and the sand crushed Sasori. He looked at the sand that held Deidara thinking, 'I have to take him with me now.'

Right when Gaara started to pick up that sand prison Sasori's scorpion tail shot out of the sand and struck Gaara right in his stomach. Gaara was knocked back and he dropped both Temari and Kankuro, he looked at his stomach and saw that the tail didn't pierce his gold armor. Looking at the tail sticking out of the ground he saw Sasori crawl out and saw his body was falling apart.

"Impressive." said Sasori. Once out completely Gaara saw that it was a puppet, the body was ripped to shreds and he could see the gears of the puppet, "Not many people take action in situations like that. I let my guard down, but not again. This body has outlived its usefulness… such a shame too since Hiruko was one of my favorites."

Gaara remained on guard ready to continue their fight, the puppet's back opened up and a hooded figure jumped out from the back and the Hiruko fell. The hooded man said, "That sand is all inside of that puppet. It's useless now."

"So you were hiding inside of that puppet. Show your face Sasori." Gaara demanded.

Sasori slowly started to remove the cloak, "So demanding. To be honest you're much stronger than I had thought, I was watching your match with Deidara the whole time. You'd actually make a fine Kazekage." he pulled the cloak off and Gaara saw what Sasori really looked like. He was young at least in his teens, messy red hair, and brown eyes. Sasori was wearing the Akatsuki clothes as well and his nails were painted a teal color.

"How can you look so young?" Gaara asked seeing that it was impossible for him to be so young when he was born some thirty years ago. Sasori was smiling asking, "Surprised Gaara-kun?" Sasori pulled out a green scroll and told the the jinchuriki, "Even if I told you how I accomplished this… It wouldn't help you after you're captured."

Gaara watched as the scroll unraveled and he saw the kanji for three and smoke erupted from the scroll. Gaara had his gold sand form a chain with spikes to hover above him and used the sand below him to make a halberd with red markings on the tip of the sand weapon.

Sasori continued to smile, "It's evident that you have the Magnet Release like your father and also like him." When the smoke died down Gaara was horrified at who Sasori summoned to the fight. Floating just above Sasori was his village's Third Kazekage. The Kazekage was wearing a worn out brown poncho with black fur lining the neck. He had dark tan skin, black hair that framed his face and a knot top to keep his long hair up. Sasori asked, "I wonder who's Magnet style is better?"

They bot heard an explosion and Gaara looked and saw Deidara come out of the sand that he was caught in. He used a small bomb to destroy the sand and allow himself out, Deidara was smiling and was holding another clay sculpture of a scorpion in his left hand, "I'm not being left out of this battle." Gaara gritted his teeth he was backed into a corner at this point.

Sasori moved his hand and his Kazekage puppet flew at Gaara and Deidara released his scorpion and it became twice the size as Deidara and it started heading toward Gaara as well.

'I won't lose here!' thought Gaara as he prepared for battle.

* * *

* Konoha: Hyuuga Compound *

Hinata was just walking out of her father's office after having a talk with him about Hyuugas that have gone missing or died recently. He told her that most of the ones who've died or were never found were mostly from the branch family as most of the bodies recovered who were from the main house had destroyed their eyes so no other village could get their hands on them. However he did tell her that Ao from Kiri was able to get his hands on the byakugan, he was able to get it from a member of the main house during the Third War. She wasn't sure how Naruto was able to get ahold of a byakugan or which one for that matter, each byakugan was different as depending on the Hyuuga the range of the byakugan can see.

She knew that Neji's byakugan right now has the farthest sight radius of any current Hyuuga of either branch. As she walked the compound she decided to go to the library to pay a visit to her grandfather maybe he would know something about this. Though the two never really spoke to one another she did like how he always spoke to her with a sense of care. Walking to the library she saw a few clansmen were inside reading some scrolls, looking around she saw her grandfather sitting by himself. His hair graying and numerous wrinkles adorned his face, his eyes have turned white with age giving him the appearance of being blind.

Hinata walked up to him and he looked up from his scroll, Hinata politely bowed to him and he bowed back holding his hand out to the seat in front of him. Hinata sat and asked, "How have you been ojii-sama?"

He rolled up his scroll and put both hands in his sleeves, "Old age is something you can adapt to. Though it has it's ups and downs. What brings this visit?"

"Ojii-sama I was wondering about the byakugan. I know that each individual byakugan can develop differently depending on it's user. I was wondering about whether the byakugan has additional abilities?" Hinata asked politely. He tilted his head somewhat confused, "Seeing as how this is out of the blue especially from you my granddaughter, I'd like to ask why would you want to know?"

Hinata was twiddling her fingers a bit, "Well I believe that the byakugan has come into possession of the Akatsuki." This bit of news didn't shock the elderly man as he calmly told her, "Though we've tried everything in our power to keep the byakugan out of anyones hands outside of Konoha the only known mistake was Ao from Kiri. I was not aware that the Akatsuki have the byakugan… Hinata-chan what proof do you have that they have our clan's dojutsu?"

Treading carefully Hinata told him, "One of the Akatsuki members tried to hide it, but the pressure coming from the byakugan was unmistakable and I was able to see it with my byakugan as well."

Her grandfather raised an eyebrow, "Pressure? You were able to sense the byakugan without seeing it?"

Hinata nodded, "I thought that it was possibly common for our clan to sense pressure like that?"

He shook his head, "No Hinata-chan it's not a common trait in our clan in fact very few in our clan's history can anyone use the Douteki-Kage."

"Ojii-sama what does that mean?" she asked.

He gripped his fists telling Hinata, "My granduncle Mejiro Hyuuga was arguably the strongest Hyuuga our clan had ever produced. His byakugan was unique as his range of sight was possibly the smallest view of the Hyuugas at that time, but it made up for it in which his byakugan gave off immense pressure. All those inside his viewing range wouldn't even know that they've caught. The pressure his byakugan gave off made everyone move slower in his range and they wouldn't even know it. The Douteki-Kage is known as the motion shadow, anything stuck in the users space loses their speed and power to a certain degree."

"Is that even possible?" she asked. He nodded, "Yes which is why he was feared. Some of the fastest moving ninjas who fought him never knew what happened, they just thought he was holding back." He paused momentarily and "Another trait the byakugan has that isn't rare nor common is the ability to see color."

"Color?"

"Yes, when someone uses a jutsu they give off a separate color of chakra. As an example Nature Manipulation, your father can use this ability and we've discovered that both Hanabi-chan and Neji-kun have it as well. If someone like your friend Haru used a fire ninjutsu then her chakra would flash a red color." he stopped and looked around, standing up he walked to one shelf and pulled out a scroll that taught nature manipulation. He sat back down and unraveled it showing five of the nature abilities and a color associated with them. He pointed to each one, "These were colors that our clansmen could see. Brown for Earth, red for Fire, yellow for Lightning, green for Wind, and blue for Water."

Hinata took the scroll and looked at it as her grandfather continued to talk, "There is something I should tell you that no one else in our clan except for the elders and your father knows." He activated his byakugan and scanned around making sure no one else had their byakugan activated to spy. He motioned for Hinata to lean in and he whispered, "Mejiro went missing sometime after the village was established. Mejiro just disappeared, we didn't know what happened to him."

Hinata asked him, "Was a body ever found?"

He shook his head, "No, we never found his body. In fact he was one of the few Hyuugas who refused to join Konoha because of Madara and the Uchiha clan. We believe that he left the clan because we joined Konoha." He crossed his arms, "Mejiro joined because our clan wanted stability though he still objected it hoping our clansmen would come around. As time went on however he just vanished without a trace."

"Why are you telling me this ojii-sama?" Hinata was asking not sure why he was telling her all of this.

He reached over and took her hand in his, "Hinata-chan I know that we are talking about that Namikaze boy." Her eyes widened out of fear, "I'm not foolish. The recent Akatsuki incident involving our village of course was when Naruto and his partner came and invaded our village. There wouldn't have been any other time for you to sense a byakugan like that. Besides the Hokage already theorized that Naruto has the byakugan, but I won't confirm it to him." She looked like she was about to cry and he shook her hand so she looked at him, "I tell you this because of the recent change of our clan." Looking around and he pointed to a few of the clansmen who were grouped together reading. Hinata looked, but didn't understand, "That group over there are a mix of both the main and branch families." he pointed again to another group, "Those kids over there, the same thing."

Hinata now noticed it now that he pointed it out, the clan was coming together. He relaxed in his seat, "It's quiet the tension is gone and actually…. it's quite nice." standing up he held his hand for Hinata to take and he offered his arm and she took it. They walked out of the library, "At first I didn't like it, this sudden change and how our clan had become so lax." they came to the dojo and when they went inside she saw that the kids were training together instead of separating them from the branch and main house, "They are getting stronger. The branch family is stronger than I thought and now the main family strives to become stronger as well."

He let out a sigh and his body relaxed, "Maybe it was time I changed my ways as well and to be honest… it actually feels rather nice." The two smiled at each other and looked at the kids training.

"Onee-chan."

The two looked behind them seeing Hanabi was standing there. She was wearing a black with lavender string decorations in the wrist of the sleeve and the shoulders and her headband tied around her left thigh. Her clan's symbol was also a patch over her right breast. The two sisters stared at one another and their grandfather decided to take his leave, but not before whispering to Hinata, "Hinata-chan beware of that boy from now on. If he discovers that he is able to use the Douteki-Kage. Then he is one step closer to being unbeatable."

Hinata nodded and hugged her grandfather. He smiled and and went up to the kids training to give them some pointers leaving the sisters alone. Hanabi walked up to her asking her older sister, "Welcome home."

"Arigatou. I was told that your instructor is Hayama Shirakumo, is that true?" Hinata asked Hanabi. The younger sister nodded and then came the awkward silence, Hinata would visit whenever possible and would usually talk with Neji more than the others. The two sisters rarely speak to one another, Hanabi took a deep breath and asked, "Did you speak to him?"

She immediately knew who Hanabi meant, "I did speak to him."

"What did you guys talk about?" Hanabi asked. Hinata folded her hands together and just smiled, "This and that, next time when I see him I'll be able to tell him what I want to say now."

"Why do you still fight for him onee-chan? He's attacked our village and hurt a lot of people and yet you still defend him or will fight for him." Hanabi said, she didn't understand what she saw in Naruto. At first Hanabi was convinced that he just wanted to get in good with Hinata so that he could get close to the Hyuuga clan, but now that he was a missing-nin and has done so many unforgivable things. She still couldn't wrap her hands around why her older sister would still want anything to do with him.

Hinata kneeled down and put both hands on Hanabi's shoulders, the two stared at one another and Hinata just said, "You probably think that your nee-chan is a foolish girl, but Naruto-kun is my precious person who I will protect. I can't describe this feeling to others, but I just know that when I'm with him even for a brief moment I feel enlightened and happy. I'm not asking you to understand nor do I expect you to. I do ask though that you let me handle my life."

Hanabi could hear the caring tone in her sister's voice, it was one she came to like growing up under their father's strict attitude. Hanabi just wanted what was best for her older sister since their father was much harder on her and expected more from her since she was the oldest. "Onee-chan I-"

"Hinata!"

The two sisters and the people in the dojo stopped and looked seeing Haru appear, she was nearly out of breath and looked extremely worried. When Haru saw Hinata she ran over and grabbed her hand shouting, "Hinata-chan I ned your help!"

Hinata asked worried now, "What's wrong?", Haru started to pull her toward the gate and many Hyuuga guards were running up to them and Hinata held up her hand for them to stop, "Haru-chan tell me what's wrong?"

"It's Gaara." Haru said still pulling her, "Tou-san was just told that the Akatsuki is currently attacking Gaara in Wind Country."

Hinata started moving at the same pace as Haru and then they both broke out into a run leaving the compound and heading toward the Hokage's tower. Haru told Hinata, "Ero-sennin told tou-san a little while ago that one of his contacts found out that the Akatsuki is going on the offensive and that their first target is Gaara."

"Do we know if he's being attacked now?" Hinata asked Haru. Shaking her head she answered, "There is no real evidence, but tou-san asked the toads and they overheard Gamakichi say something about the Akatsuki attacking Gaara."

Hinata asked Haru, "You're tou-san is letting us go?"

"I'm not sure I just found this out myself, but I'm going to go save Gaara-kun." Haru told her. As they rushed to the Hokage's Tower Haru thought to herself, 'Gaara-kun just hang on a little while longer. I'll be there as quick as I can.'

* * *

(A/N)

Remember to please check out the POLL I have set up on my profile page. If you have any questions about somethings that happened I'll answer them without trying to ruin the rest of the story, so forgive me as well if I don't reply right away. Between work and school (midterms coming up) I've had little time to write. Next chapter I'll try to get out there faster, but no promises.

**Naruto's Masks used in 'Raised a Criminal' for the Earth Grudge Fear (CLOSE THE SPACES)**

**The Daikijin Mask / Swift Release-** /oni/oni2003/005ooeoni .jpg

**The Bannai Mask / Steel Release-** /oni/oni2003/003ooeoni .jpg

**The Jyoki Mask / Lava Release-** /oni/oni2003/013ooeoni .jpg

**The Ondekomen Mask / Magnet Release-** /oni/oni2003/035ooeoni .jpg


	38. Brawl in the Desert

Chapter 38: Brawl in the Desert

I've barely found out about this, but I know a lot of you have heard about how this website is going to be taking down stories that have violence and/or sexual content and even possibly deleting the accounts. Because of this the past few days I've been reluctant to upload only to find out my story was deleted the next day or even my account, but you know what to hell with it all my stories are on a back up so if something happens I'll know that I've saved my stories and all the chapters. I've already sent in my message to the FanFiction Support giving my voice.

If you'd all like to see this not happen please either contact them at **support fanfiction(.)net** and give them your reasons why they shouldn't do this or go to this website and sign the petition for them to stop the deletion and ban on the stories and authors:

**change(.)org/petitions/fanfiction-net-stop-the-destruction-of-fanfiction-net**

* * *

* Konoha: Hokage's Office *

Minato was sitting at his desk getting things ready. Standing in the room already was Kakashi and Sasuke, as they waited Sakura broke into the room shouting, "I'm here Hokage-sama."

"Good. We just have to wait for Haru, Hinata, Arashi, Hana, and the members of the Kaiheitai." said Minato. Though he wanted to keep Haru in the village for awhile, but because most of his ninjas are off doing missions because of recent events. That left him with Kakashi and his team, he would send Kurenai's team, but with Kiba and Shino still in the hospital and he couldn't send them if they weren't fully healed.

The doors opened again and in walked Ibiki, Shi, and Takako. Kakashi and Ibiki gave a slight nod showing respect for one another.

Ibiki stepped up, "Hokage-sama how did we acquire this information if I may ask?" Everyone looked at Minato who had his hands neatly folded on his desk and calmly said, "Information through our toads. It seems that Gamakichi slipped up and one of our toads overheard him."

Kakashi said with his hands in his pocket, "You sure that this isn't a trap to get Haru?" Minato shook his head, "I'm positive that it isn't. It's my own guess on it, but recent events have caused me to rethink how to battle the Akatsuki. Remember they'll think that we're going to keep our jinchuriki safe, no reason to set a trap if the one you're after doesn't show up."

Sasuke said, "Makes sense, however Hokage-sama this is Haru we are talking about and as well as Naruto." Minato and everyone else looked at Sasuke seeing him looking at the Hokage. Minato just told him, "It is, Naruto will know everything Haru will do… but he doesn't know what I'll do in these situations. Naruto is a gambler, but he won't gamble when he knows who's sitting on the other side of him. Besides he's very careful, unless he's backed into a corner is when Naruto takes more risks."

Kakashi smiled under his mask and told Sasuke, "The Hokage looks out for us and sets us up accordingly."

Sasuke stared at the Hokage who was smiling at him and Sasuke looked away and stood silently. The doors bursted open and Haru, Hinata, Arashi, and Hana moved in and they saw that Haru and Hinata were the more visibly exhausted. Haru walked up to her father's desk asking, "When do we leave?" Minato stood up and touched her shoulders trying to calm her down, "Relax okay… I have to debrief everyone." he then said, "Everyone line up, Jounin in the front everyone else behind them.

Arashi, Ibiki, Kakashi, Kurenai, Sasuke stood at the front while everyone else was standing behind them. Minato remained standing and said, "As far as we know Gaara has been or is being attacked. We haven't received word from Sunagakure on the matter, but they have requested assistance."

Kurenai asked, "Hokage-sama any leads as to who the two Akatsuki may be?" Minato shook his head, "No, but Jiraiya's contact said that the Akatsuki are attacking Gaara, then we received word from our toads that Naruto and Kisame have also attacked a jinchuriki, but there whereabouts are unknown. Although these two reports came in close proximity it could just be the same report over."

"Hokage-sama how do we proceeded if we find the Akatsuki?" Arashi asked. Minato looked at his son saying, "Contain and kill, capture one Akatsuki for Ibiki to do a field interrogation and kill the second Akatsuki member. If it turns out that this isn't the same report then we can interrogate the captured Akatsuki to find out Naruto, Kisame, and the captured jinchuriki's location."

Hinata asked looking over Kurenai's shoulder, "Is there a chance that Naruto and Kisame are the ones who attacked Gaara?" A few of the ninjas looked at Hinata wondering the same thing. Minato shrugged his shoulders, "It's a possibility. We won't know for sure until you all report back to me. Now Kakashi will be team leader for this mission everyone else will follow his orders. You leave in an hour and I want a report once you reach Wind Country immediately and I'll keep you updated on what Suna reports."

Sakura asked, "Hokage-sama how will you do that?" Haru told her, "Tou-san will send a messenger toad to either aniki or myself."

"That's right so you two stay alert for any toads." Minato said to his kids. They nodded and he said, "Okay everyone start packing and head out once everyone gathers." Everyone saluted him shouting, "Hai Hokage-sama!" all of them turned around and only the younger ninjas rushed out while the older ones left calmly.

* * *

* Kisame and Naruto *

They stopped off at a rest stop that was unoccupied at the moment. Naruto had used his threads to continually drain Roshi of his chakra to keep him from recovering and at the same time replenish the chakra he used up in the battle. Kisame smirked to himself and Naruto asked, "What?" Kisame closed his eyes and said, "Your chakra has a soothing aura."

Naruto rose an eyebrow and told him, "That's an odd thing to say, especially coming from someone like you." Naruto removed his eyepatch and rubbed his closed right eye that held the byakugan, "What brought up my chakra all of a sudden Kisame?"

The shark man seemed at ease and he grabbed Samehada and held it out so Naruto could see. At first he didn't get it, but Naruto could see the scales of Samehada were moving about a bit. Very slight movements and Naruto hadn't seen Samehada do this, "Samehada likes that you're around. Me and my sword have a connection with each other and I can feel that chakra of yours. It's giving off a warm feeling." At this point Kisame looked Naruto in his left eye asking, "Which is strange."

"How so?" Naruto asked. Kisame set Samehada down answering, "Before we went on our little mission to Konoha your chakra was… somewhat dark and cold with a tint of warm energy coming from it. After we got separated in Konoha I was able to feel your chakra getting brighter and warmer, this grew so much that I can't even sense the darker energy from you. Care to explain?"

Naruto remained silent and looked away from Kisame. Smiling Kisame asked, "It wouldn't have anything to do with that Hyuuga girl would it?" Naruto made eye contact with Kisame again, but this time both eyes were on Kisame showing his byakugan.

Kisame smiled wider and thought, 'What's that feeling I'm getting? Killing intent? No there's something else mixed in it. I've fought many ninjas giving off such a feeling, but there is more in it, I can barely breathe.' Kisame held his hand out, "Calm down."

Cursing in his head Naruto closed his eye thinking, 'Damn I fell for his bait.'

"Since we'll be here for awhile let's talk about that girl." Kisame said wanting to pass conversation. Naruto asked, "Why?"

Petting Samehada, Kisame just told him, "It was strange seeing how you let a girl like that get that close to you back there in Konoha. I've noticed that before you fight you have a zone that you don't let your opponent enter. Anytime they get that close you're usually ready to strike."

Naruto said, "Did you forget that the Hokage was there along with a large number of Konoha ninjas. Wasn't much I could do."

Passing it off Kisame retorted, "You could've snatched her and used her as a shield. The Yellow Flash is fast, but with the way you fight he wouldn't have been able to grab her in time. You could've grabbed her, used your Swift Release and went elsewhere, but instead you chose to let her get close and instead I had to act." at the accusations Naruto glared at Kisame who continued, "That's not like you… not like you at all. I'm wondering if this girl is going to be a problem and-"

Naruto lunged from his position and Kisame stood up with Samehada in his hand they both moved so quickly that even the best ninjas would have trouble keeping up. Naruto had his Black Mamba sticking out of his palm aimed at Kisame's throat while a spike from Samehada was pointed at Naruto's chest where his heart 'should' be. The two were locked staring at one another and Kisame kept smiling, "I know how you fight. Remember I helped train you. I might not know what is going on in that spiky blonde head, but I do know that if you want to kill me then you're gonna have to work for it."

"Kisame… I don't care if you stab me right now." Naruto said with his voice dangerously low, "These abilities I have with the extra four hearts mean nothing to me. I could care less if I lose my Swift, Steel, Lava, or my Magnet heart. You guys in Akatsuki think that you'll have me on the ropes if I lose one of these, but you won't." Naruto withdrew his sword back into his arm and Kisame had Samehada remove that spike. Backing away from his partner Naruto calmed down, "Akatsuki helped make me what I am, but it's still 'my life' and I'll choose how to live it. And no one not Pain, not Madara, no one will control me. People say that my heart is too far gone in darkness, or that I live in a world filled with lies." Kisame stopped smiling and felt himself tremble at Naruto's words, the last part Naruto mumbled to himself and Kisame barely heard it, "She's still there waiting…" and he walked away and sat by Roshi to make sure that he was still unconscious.

Kisame looked at his left hand that held Samehada and could see himself visibly tremble and he grabbed hold of his wrist trying to calm himself, he glanced Naruto's way, 'What the hell is he?'

Naruto leaned against the wall saying, "I'm going to sleep first. You take first watch." Naruto put his eyepatch back on and tried to fall asleep. Kisame sat back down and touched his throat, 'Despite knowing how he fights. It seemed like he moved faster than normal… and it even felt like I was heavier.' Kisame continued watching Naruto and sat against the wall remaining on watch in case something happened.

* * *

* Land of Wind *

Gaara was laying face down in the sand his upper chest bare, his pants shredded up, and cracks covered his whole body. Standing off to the side was Sasori who looked okay save for his missing cloak and Deidara who looked a bit beat up. Deidara was moving sand around shouting, "Oi, Master Sasori! You could help me look for my arm! I can't participate in the sealing without the ring! Which is on my missing arm, un!"

Sasori looked around at the sand seeing some of his destroyed puppets in the sand being covered up by the wind which kicked up more sand. He looked at the scroll in his hand that he had the Sandaime Kazekage sealed in, he could hear Deidara shouting at him and he put the scroll back in his sleeve, "It's your own fault for letting that happen." he sat down on one of his destroyed puppets watching how Deidara was frantically searching around. The sand welled up and Deidara saw his white sculpture come out of the ground, it was a long sand worm he made. Sasori and Deidara saw the worm open it's round mouth and spit out Deidara's arm. Smiling Deidara picked up his arm and looked at Sasori asking, "Mind if you seal this away till I get to Naruto to fix it."

Annoyed Sasori grabbed Deidara's arm two parts on his jaw opened up and he swallowed the arm. Closing up so he looked normal, Deidara took out a clay bird that he had been saving and made it into it's giant form. Both Akatsuki members jumped on the bird and using it's long beak it picked up Gaara and held him in his long beak. The clay sand worm jumped up and merged with the bird adding the two clays together, but not changing the appearance of the clay bird. Once they were ready the bird flew up into the air, Sasori closed his eyes and sent out the chakra thought waves, 'We got the jinchuriki.'

Pain responded back, 'Good, Naruto and Kisame are held up by a storm.'

Deidara could hear the conversation and jumped in after he pressed a button on his left eye scope, 'Hey we might be late as well. I can see a nasty sandstorm kick up, un.'

Sasori looked ahead and saw signs of a sandstorm, 'He's right, it's starting to build up. We might be delayed by a day and a half.' Pain responded to the two, 'Get here as soon as the storm subsides and alert me when you start moving again.' and the communication ended. Sasori pointed, "We'll have to set up camp." Deidara nodded and had the bird fly to the ground. Deidara did a few handsigns and shouted, "Earth Style: Earth Dome!" The ground shook below the two and rocks shot out from beneath the sand and covered around the two. After encased in the large dome Sasori walked over to the wall and punched a hole in it allowing air to flow through, but not letting the sand from the storm inside. Deidara had his bird drop Gaara and the bird turned back into a small maquette. With nothing else to do they sat and waited for the storm to subside.

* * *

* Konoha: 1 Hour Later *

Everyone was ready at the front gates all carrying light packs for the travel. Haru was standing looking out at the dirt path and looked back seeing her father talking with Kakashi, Ibiki, Kurenai, and Arashi, most likely going over just some last minute instructions. Haru started to tap her foot impatiently on the floor, "The longer we stay here the farther away the Akatsuki get with Gaara."

Hana heard Haru and said to calm her, "Don't worry Haru-chan, the second we start moving you know that we won't be making many stops. Don't worry we'll save him." Haru looked at her and gave a weak smile.

Sasuke was leaned against the wall saying out loud, "I wonder if the Akatsuki believe in reinforcements?" Hana, Haru, Sakura, and Hinata heard him, "If the Akatsuki is as powerful as we think they are then two alone could prove to be a problem."

"That is true, but we'll be receiving help from Sunagakure as well. Maybe we can force the Akatsuki into a corner." Everyone's attention was on the other female who was wearing the ANBU Badger mask, "However working together with another village who we've had little joint training with leaves the question of whether who we can trust to watch our backs."

Haru asked, "You were part of Naruto's team before he left right?"

Takako nodded, "That I was… However next time I see your brother I'll bring him down." Shi was standing off to the side and sighed fearing an argument would now break out. Sakura stood up sensing the tension rise from Haru, "Haru-chan let's calm down." Sakura moved in front of her friend and teammate to stop her and luckily Haru stayed in her spot, but her eyes never left Takako.

"You might not like what I have to say Haru, but know that your brother is a criminal and he must be brought down." Takako said to Haru. To everyone's surprise Hinata was walking forward and was an arms reach from her, Takako was ready for any kind of strike even though she didn't feel any animosity from her. Hinata asked calmly, "Did you two have any kind of friendship?"

A bit surprised by the question, but you couldn't see it since her face was hidden. Shi walked forward and answered, "He was a comrade that we fought alongside, but he destroyed that when he decided to side with mercenaries."

Haru watched and was seeing Hinata more and more in a different light. Hinata asked still calmly, "If it came down to it and you had an opportunity to kill him… Would you?"

Takako said, "For the sake of our comrades and village…" there was brief pause before both Shi and Takako answered together, "Absolutely."

Haru gritted her teeth wanting to shut the two up, but with Sakura blocking the way and she knew that Sasuke would also interfere. Hinata sighed and turned her back to the two ANBU and said, "I going to protect Naruto-kun."

Making a scoffing noise Takako said, "You plan on taking on the whole ninja world to protect him? He's made enemies in Kumo, Kiri, Iwa, Suna, a number of the other smaller ninja villages, and even Konoha… No one is strong enough to 'protect' him from that many enemies. Can you honestly say that you can protect him?"

Haru was about to move, but Sakura stayed in front of her and she felt two hands on her shoulders and saw both Sasuke and Hana were stopping her. Hinata didn't face Takako and instead said as if it was the easiest thing in the world, "Of course I can protect him." This absolutely surprised everyone, "After all, Naruto-kun is the one precious person I want to protect the most and 'I will'."

The two kunoichi stared each other down until someone held their hand out to break to the two up, "Okay that's enough. We can't have this team fall apart." they both saw that it was Kurenai, "Listen up we're going to be debriefed on what we will do."

Kakashi then walked up and told everyone to gather around, "Alright listen up, we will be heading to Sunagakure first and meet up with the Suna ninjas there. The Hokage as he said before will keep up communications between us and the Kazekage. It turns out that Temari and Kankuro survived their encounter with the Akatsuki and were rescued by Suna guard patrol. The two said that the Akatsuki took Gaara and are headed north."

Everyone nodded understanding the situation and Kakashi finished with, "You all remember to kill and capture if possible?" again everyone nodded and Kakashi turned to Minato and saluted him, "We're off Hokage-sama."

Minato saluted him back, "Take care of everyone Kakashi." Kakashi gave him a thumbs up and the Jounin shouted, "All right let's go!" and in a blur everyone turned and started running out of the village toward Suna. As they ran Arashi saw that it was his sister who was leading the front of the group growing the distance between her and the group. He rushed ahead passing everyone up and catching up to Haru.

The siblings looked at one another and Arashi asked her, "You're not gonna do any unnecessary things right?"

Haru looked back ahead and said, "I won't."

Arashi just said, "Why don't I believe you? We need people with a focused mind, I'm not talking to you as your superior."

"Aniki I promise I won't let what happened in Konoha happen if we run into the Akatsuki." she said looking at him once again. Arashi held up his right pinky and Haru gave him her right pinky and they joined them together, "It's a promise then." said Arashi. They both looked ahead and he also said, "Don't push yourself to much otherwise you won't have the strength to fight two Akatsuki."

"Okay I won't. Aniki…" Arashi looked at his little sister and she said, "Thanks." and he saw her smile. The remained at the front of the group as they ran to Suna to help out their ally.

* * *

* Next Day: Naruto/Kisame *

The thunderstorm ended and the two Akatsuki continued their journey as soon as it was over. Since the rain had delayed them, Naruto used his Swift Release to send as far as his jutsu would let him after awhile they were in the same territory as their base which now wasn't that far. Kisame was carrying Roshi and had on of Samehada's spikes poking into the old ninja's side so as to drain him of his chakra. The two were walking on water as they moved to their base, Kisame looked around at the area and told Naruto, "We're close." Naruto was a bit ahead of him and he remembered what happened yesterday and he thought to himself, 'I should let Madara know about this.' Kisame stopped and it didn't go unnoticed by Naruto who stopped as well and looked at his partner.

"What is it?"

Kisame just shook his head thinking, 'No not yet.' and then said to Naruto, "Just trying to remember where this place was." Naruto continued walking and Kisame right behind. They went against the flow of the water and walked around a big rock hill and finally saw what they were looking for. At the base of the rocky hill there was a red torii with a giant boulder behind it and a paper seal on the front.

Naruto and Kisame stood in front of it and Naruto brought up his right hand lifting only his index and middle finger. A few seconds later the kanji on the paper seal started to glow red and the boulder began to lift up revealing a cave. They walked inside they saw that it was a giant cave, they got off the water and on the dirt and they also noticed that Pain was there in his hologram form.

"You two are early."

Kisame had Samehada by it's handle still and chucked Roshi who was on the blade to the ground, "So what next?"

Pain started doing a number of handsigns and then he slammed his hand on the ground shouting, "Summoning Jutsu!" a large cloud of smoke erupted from behind him and both Naruto and Kisame saw a giant statue come out of the ground, but only from the waist up. It was a type of human statue with number of spike-like protrusions coming out of it's back, a blindfold over it's eyes with nine closed eyes, arms are also bound in shackles and it has a bit in its mouth, the overall color was a purplish-brown color.

Pain disappeared and reappeared on the right thumb of the statue, "We shall now begin the sealing, the two of you go to your according spot." Pain closed his eyes to tell the others. Naruto and Kisame did as they were told and Naruto jumped on the right ring finger and Kisame was on the left ring finger. More holograms of the remaining Akatsuki appeared, Kakuzu on the left middle finger, Hidan left index finger, Zetsu right pinky finger, and the female member Konan was on the right middle finger.

Deidara and Sasori appeared as well with Deidara on the right index finger and Sasori was on the left thumb. Deidara's hologram looked at Pain and said, "Hey we're currently in a sandstorm and with a jinchuriki right next to us do you really think that now is a good time to do the sealing, un? Plus I'm missing my arm which has my ring!"

"We don't have time to wait for the two of you. Deidara you'll just have to be Sasori's bodyguard until the sealing is over." said Pain. Sasori looked a bit angry and said, "Deidara it was because you were playing around that this happened."

Deidara shouted back, "Oi don't blame me! You took just as long to help bring down the jinchuriki, un!"

"Enough!" said Pain, "Let's just begin the sealing." everyone remained quiet and they brought up their hands to make the necessary handsign to start, but Deidara couldn't do the sealing and instead disappeared. Pain said, "Zetsu spy on the area just in case we get some unwanted visitors, Naruto and Kisame will be the last line of defense in the off chance someone gets in to stop the sealing, Deidara and Sasori you two are to return here so we can seal your jinchuriki." Said members all understood and nodded. Pain said, "Good now let us begin."

The fingers just below where each Akatsuki was standing a glowing neon green orb appeared with a kanji corresponding to the ones on their rings. The bit in the statues mouth fell showing that the statue had sharp teeth, a blue glow was coming from the mouth and then nine dragon like appendages came out of the mouth, Pain then shouted, "Sealing Technique: Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals!" The nine dragons shot out at Roshi and lifted him the air into and orb. Roshi's eyes opened revealing them to be white and his mouth opened as well and red chakra started to come out of his mouth and into the statue's mouth.

Pain said, "With two members down this will take a bit longer than three days. That is unless…" he looked at Kisame, then to Naruto, "You two wish to contribute more chakra to the sealing?"

Naruto told him, "I don't mind. I have a lot of chakra stored up from my fight with Roshi."

"Same here I have chakra to spare." said Kisame.

Chakra suddenly burst from the two and the chakra shot down the fingers and into the palms of the statue. The chakra formed into a ball and it was big enough to fill both the palms, it looked like the statue was holding a baseball in each hand. Konan said, "It always impresses me with the amount of chakra the two of you have."

Zetsu also commented, "That's a lot of chakra.", "Agreed."

Kakuzu looked at the chakra and said, "With this amount of chakra it could cut down the sealing time to about two days." Pain added, "Maybe, but we'll have to wait and see." The Akatsuki focused all their attention on Roshi who was currently having his biju slowly ripped from his body.

* * *

* Two Days Later: Land of Wind *

Running almost non stop Team One (Kakashi's Team) passed up the border that separated the forest from the desert. Kakashi held his hand up for his team to stop and everyone did so, appearing ahead of them was Gaara's sensei Baki and a few other Suna nins. There was a noticeable gap between the two groups, Kakashi whispered, "Arashi, Ibiki with me. Everyone else stay put."

Arashi and Ibiki stepped forward and walked shoulder to shoulder with Kakashi, Baki and two other ninjas walked forward closing the gap. Kakashi asked, "So what's the situation?"

Baki answered, "As far as we can tell there is a sandstorm more up north and it's stopping us from continuing any further forward. Though small it still is dangerous to rush in."

"Would this sandstorm be able to stop the two Akatsuki?" asked Ibiki. Baki looked at him saying, "It should from what Temari and Kankuro told us before they blacked out is that one of the Akatsuki is from our village, so he knows the dangers of advancing through a sandstorm. If we don't save Gaara then we loose my entire team."

"How's that?" asked Arashi.

Baki looked down at the sand and answered, "Sasori poisoned both of them, they don't have much time left. We're slowing the process, but they don't have much longer." Kakashi looked back and called, "Sakura-chan I need you over here."

Sakura walked over to Kakashi and the others, Kakashi placed his hand on her shoulder and told Baki, "Sakura-chan here is from my team. Over the course of three years I've trained her and so has one of the legendary Sannin, Tsunade-sama." Baki was a bit surprised and remembered back during the war it was Tsunade who had stopped their village elder Chiyo.

"Can your student go to Sunagakure and cure them!" he asked hastily. Kakashi nodded and called, "Haru, Sasuke, and Badger come forward." Said ninjas walked forward and Kakashi told Baki, "Sakura, Sasuke, Haru, Badger, and Arashi will go with you to your village to heal the intended ninja."

Haru immediately shouted, "What!"

Kakashi continued, "Meanwhile we'll remain here and wait for the storm to subside and start tracking. How long do you think the storm will last?"

One of the other Suna nins answered, "Usually this size will last a little longer into tomorrow morning, but it's been going on for two days already."

Ibiki jumped in, "That'll work. Since our unit will be broken up into two teams, the ones going with you or Team Two will heal your ninjas while us Team One will remain here." Haru walked forward and tugged Kakashi's sleeve and asked, "Kakashi-sensei let me stay here and send someone else."

Kakashi looked from her to Baki and just said, "Team Two will leave when you're ready." Haru gritted her teeth visibly upset and Baki shouted, "Horo, Kakou, and Botsu are going to go back with me to Suna with Team Two while the rest of you will stay here with Team One! Genjou you're in charge the team remaining here!" The three ninjas Baki called for walked up to him and Baki looked at Arashi saying, "This way."

Arashi nodded and called, "Okay Team Two let's go!" Sasuke, Sakura, Haru, and Badger followed after Arashi and Baki.

Hinata walked up to Kakashi and asked, "Kakashi-sensei was it wise to send Haru off like that?" Kakashi put his hands in his pockets and replied, "If she's smart she should talk to Gaara's siblings and find out more about the two Akatsuki, besides I can't have her going on impulse to rush into that sandstorm to try and find them."

"But sensei she won't-" before Hinata could finish Kurenai put a hand on her shoulder, "Hinata-chan, Kakashi knows what he's doing. This isn't his first time leading a team." Hinata looked at Team Two who rushed off to Suna to save Gaara's siblings.

* Five Hours Later: Sasori and Deidara *

Sasori had his eyes closed as he sat concentrating. Deidara meanwhile looked to be fidgeting, he was sitting on top of Gaara making sure that the boy remained unconscious. Standing up he walked to the small hole they made so they could look out and saw that the sandstorm was subsiding a bit, which meant they could leave as soon as the sealing was done.

"Deidara."

The blonde Iwa nin looked back and saw Sasori stood up and said, "The sealing is complete." Deidara smiled and said, "That's good, un." Sasori looked out at the sandstorm and told his partner, "We'll give it another two and a half hours then we'll leave. I'm going to rest until then."

"Alright, I'll wake you, un." said Deidara. Sasori sat back down and told Deidara, "Naruto and Kisame will be waiting at the base with the Gedō Mazō until we arrive with our catch."

Deidara sat down back on top of Gaara, "Speaking of which I'll still need him to reattach my arm, un." Sasori closed his eyes, "The sooner the better so that we can capture the jinchuriki I was assigned." Sasori slowly fell asleep while Deidara remained on watch.

* A Few Hours Later: Sunagakure *

Baki's Team and Team Two saw the entrance to Sunagakure which was a giant mound opening with dozens of ninjas guarding it. Baki told all of them, "Keep going they know that me and my team were coming back." Doing as they were told they continued running forward and another Suna ninja jumped down next to them and ran alongside them telling Baki, "The Kazekage is waiting for you at the hospital. He was already informed by the Hokage that you have a healer." Baki was aware of the Lizard that the Kazekage summoned and that the Toads were delivering messages from the Hokage to the Lizards who deliver the message to the Kazekage.

They ran into the village seeing that a majority of the village was made from large rocks that were shaped to look like homes. They continued running to the hospital and saw Suna ANBU waiting at the hospital entrance, when they got close one of the ANBU said, "Hurry fourth floor room 407!" The doors opened and Baki told his team to wait and for Team Two to continue following him.

Running up the stairs they ran down the hall and they all saw a man standing at the door's entrance dawned in kage garbs save for the hat, the man was about as old as Minato, he had auburn hair, dark eyes, creases around his mouth, and a very stern looking face. When they approached Baki bowed his head, "Kazekage-sama I brought the medic-nin from Konoha."

The Kazekage nodded and he pointed directly at Sakura saying, "You must be Sakura Haruno, when I told the Hokage of our situation he replied hours ago that you were with the group and he gave a detailed description of you."

Sakura stepped forward and bowed her head, "I'd like to see them as soon as possible Kazekage-sama." The Kazekage nodded and said, "Baki take her inside."

Arashi asked, "Kazekage-sama have any of your ninjas reported the sandstorm yet?"

"Unfortunately it still rages on, but there are also signs of it dispersing. We tried sending a team around the sandstorm, but so far they haven't reported back." said the Kazekage. Arashi understood, "Also Kazekage-sama what team will be going with us?"

He simply said, "A five person unit led by Chiyo the Puppet Master you might know of the second in command Pakura." Arashi rose an eyebrow asking, "Pakura? You mean the Scorch of the Desert?"

The Kazekage nodded, "The same one."

"Hello there boy."

Everyone turned around and saw and elderly woman walk forward, she was short with faded purple hair, numerous wrinkles and liver spots, and black eyes. She was wearing a lightly colored pancho and a regular hair band. The Kazekage held his hand out to the old lady introducing her, "This is Chiyo the team leader of the Suna nins that will be heading out."

Arashi walked up to her first and held his hand out, "Arashi Namikaze, it's a honor to meet you. I've heard many stories about your battle prowess during the wars." she shook his hand replying, "Your reputation is famous as well Second Flash."

Arashi held his hand to his team saying, "Along with me are Sasuke Uchiha, our ANBU Badger, and Haru Namikaze." She gave a polite bow their way then asked the Kazekage, "Did she arrive yet?"

"She did, she's already inside." said the Kazekage, Chiyo looked in the room and saw a pink haired girl with her hair tied up ordering the medic nins inside to help her. "I'll think I'll give her a hand. Excuse me." Chiyo walked inside the room.

The Kazekage told Arashi, "I must go, but as soon as my two children are healed you can go back to your other team."

"Kazekage-sama."

He looked over at Haru who was standing next to him and he asked, "Yes?"

Haru looked a bit nervous, but asked, "About Gaara-kun… umm." The Kazekage waited patiently as she fought to ask her question, "Why was Gaara-kun so cold?"

The Kazekage closed his eyes and turned away, "I'm afraid Haru-san that… I wasn't the world's greatest father." he started walking away, but they still heard him say, "Thank you Haru-san for saving him."

When the Kazekage was gone Baki told her, "Getting a sincere appraisal from our Kazekage is something that no one in Suna has been able to do… Not since Lady Karura…" Sasuke, Haru, Badger, and Arashi all rose their eyebrows as Baki cut himself off, "Anyway until things are over here there are spare rooms you can use down the hall. The Kazekage has the team ready so we leave as soon as Temari and Kankuro are healed."

Arashi told his team, "We'll remain here until Sakura is finished. Alright?" his team nodded and they all sat down in some chairs nearby and Baki headed in the room to check on his students. As they sat decided to go in the room as well to see the progression rate and Arashi later left to use the bathroom, leaving Sasuke and Haru alone in the hallway together.

It was awkwardly quiet between the two, Haru had her arms crossed and was fidgeting by moving her left foot while Sasuke sat upright and still. After awhile Sasuke asked, "Haru-chan mind if I ask you a question?"

Haru turned her head and looked at Sasuke who was looking at her too, "What?"

"About Gaara." he asked and he could see the confused look on her face, "Why go so far for someone who's not of our village?" He saw her blush a bit and she looked very nervous, "Is it because he's a jinchuriki?"

Haru looked away from him and answered, "No that's not it… It's just that I well… This is kind of embarrassing, it's like talking to my brother." She heard Sasuke sigh and she looked back at him seeing a saddened look on his face, "What?"

Sasuke asked, "So you really see me as a brother not anything else?" Haru rose her eyebrow and could only respond, "Well yeah… or if anything else it'd be a buddy, buddy kind of thing." it got quiet for awhile until Haru spoke, "When we were in the academy I did used to have a crush on you like I did with Itachi."

"So what happened then?" asked Sasuke.

Haru brought her hands together and started twiddling her thumbs, "My kaa-san told me that crushes are nothing more than a fleeting feeling unless there is something else that you feel for that person. I only thought of Itachi as handsome, I saw you as a cool guy… those were the only reasons why I had a crush on you two."

Sasuke looked at her and asked, "So what do you see in that Gaara guy? Why is he special?"

She smiled a bit and said, "I can't explain the feeling when I'm around him. When I first met him I was actually a bit scared of him, but when we teamed up to fight Kitsuchi during the exams I felt sad for him because he called himself a monster, then during the finals I actually had fun fighting him and I really saw how actually handsome and cool he was during the fight. I wanted to know more about Gaara and why he made me feel this much about someone I didn't know. It's just a flutter of emotions I've never felt to anyone and I asked myself… Is this what Hinata-chan feels toward my brother?"

Standing up Sasuke faced her, "I don't quite understand…" Haru stood up too and said, "Sorry Sasuke-kun, but… I just don't feel that way about you. Besides I couldn't that to Sakura-chan…"

"Hey."

The two looked at the entrance way and saw Sakura and Takako walk up and Sakura said, "You guys okay? You two look a bit flustered."

Sasuke shook his head, "We're fine." Haru agreed, "Yeah everything is okay. How are they?"

Sakura smiled and said, "I was able to extract the poison. Whatever was used was very potent, though Chiyo-sama was able to delay the poison. If we didn't get here sooner they wouldn't have made it."

Takako said, "The kunoichi wants to speak to you." she said pointing at Haru.

"Alright." Haru walked passed them and into the operating room and she saw Kankuro and Temari were laying on the beds and the medics were wiping the sweat off them and they were still breathing hard most likely from the after effects of the poison. Kankuro didn't have his face paint on and was bare chest and only had his pants and some bandages around his chest.

Temari had her kimono on still, but it was pulled up a bit on her right leg showing bandages on her right thigh, most likely where she was poisoned. Haru walked next to Temari who opened her eyes looking at Haru, "Haru-chan…"

Haru grabbed Temari's hand and asked, "What happened?"

"We left Konoha to return home, but we were followed by the Akatsuki. Kankuro and I took on one and Gaara took on the other, we were beaten and They double teamed Gaara and he lost." Temari tried to sit up, but she wasn't succeeding and Haru helped her up, "Last thing I remember was seeing them fly off with Gaara."

Haru had one hand on Temari's back to support her and she gently patted he on the back, "I'll get Gaara back I promise." Temari rose her hand and placed it on Haru's shoulder, "One is a puppet master from our village named Sasori and the other is an Iwa ninja who uses clay bombs. Be careful Haru, because of who you are and what you have they'll come after you too."

Smiling Haru told her fellow blonde, "I have my friends with me, so I won't be fighting them alone. Don't worry to much about me, just worry about getting healthy." Temari smiled at her and laid back down. Sakura walked back in the room up to Haru, "Haru-chan, sorry but we can't leave Suna just yet."

"What why not?" Haru asked. Chiyo walked back in from a separate room and looked directly at Haru, "Because the ninja we will be fighting is my grandson Sasori who is a master of poisons. He won't have any time to concoct a new poison since he's so sure that this one would kill these two. If we fight him and we're poisoned like these two then chances are we won't survive."

Sasuke and Takako walked in on the conversation and Haru pointed to Sakura shouting, "We have Sakura-chan though she was able to cure these two!"

Sakura told her friend, "That's because I had some help in identifying the poison. If we're poisoned by Sasori then we'll be suffering from intense internal pain and I won't be able to extract poison like this on a battlefield. If we have an antidote then it'll make the battle easier." Chiyo touched Sakura's shoulder, "We should get to work on making the antidote."

Agreeing with the elderly woman Sakura grabbed Haru's hands and looked her right in the eyes, "I will have the antidote completed in no time. Please be patient a little while longer Haru-chan." Hearing the determination in her voice Haru agreed, "Alright Sakura-chan, but please hurry."

Sakura asked Chiyo to take her a lab or somewhere where she could get to work on creating the antidote, Takako also voiced her opinion to go with Sakura for protection just in case since Sakura was their only one in their whole team with medic training she would need to be protected. Once Sakura and the others left she looked at Sasuke again and gave him a smile, "Sasuke-kun, I like you… but like I said like a brother."

Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck and then looked at her, "Right then." he held his hand out and said, "Then as a brother I'll help you rescue Gaara and help against Naruto." Haru took his hand and smiled brighter, "Arigatou Sasuke-kun, you're one of the few people in the village I trust to watch my back."

The Uchiha finally smiled to which Haru teased him and Sasuke gently pushed her telling her not to push her luck.

* Team One: Nightfall *

Kakashi and the others were a safe distance away from the sandstorm with some wind blowing passed them. Kakashi made a makeshift base using and earth styled jutsu and using Hinata's byakugan to keep an eye on the sandstorm. Hana asked Kakashi, "What will we do if the sandstorm dies down before Team Two returns?"

"Unfortunately as it wouldn't be wise to let the Akatsuki get away with Gaara and rendezvous with more Akatsuki ninjas we'll need to fight them here until Team Two returns." said Kakashi. Hinata asked him, "What if they could lead us to Naruto?"

Kurenai touched Hinata's shoulder saying, "Hinata-chan, right now the mission isn't about Naruto. Our mission is to save Gaara, remember there was no guarantee that Naruto would be involved in this incident. If these two join with other Akatsuki then we'll be outnumbered in sheer power." Ibiki also added, "We can't let personal feelings get in the way. If we can capture an Akatsuki then I can do a field interrogation and find out about the Akatsuki and Naruto. You want to find out about him, then capture one of them."

Hinata stood up and closed her eyes so she could focus on the sandstorm.

* Sasori and Deidara: Morning *

The sandstorm died down considerably and there was a blast from the dome as the two walk out and Deidara had his clay bird pick up Gaara again. Sasori shook his body to get the sand out of his joints otherwise it'd prove to be more difficult later. Deidara replied with a smirk, "The inconvenience of eternal art, un."

Sasori looked at Deidara saying in a low tone, "Now isn't the time Deidara." This was really taking up time as he had to remove parts of his body to get rid of the sand. When he was done Sasori said, "Let's go now and this time we're going to hurry since I don't like-" he stopped mid-sentence and he looked around. Deidara asked, "What?"

"Go now and take the jinchuriki. Someone is here who shouldn't be." said Sasori, but before they could do anything else crashing through a dune were four wind torrents heading straight for them. Sasori jumped out of the way and Deidara got out of the way too and made his clay bird fly into the air. The two Akatsuki were about ten yards away from each other and Sasori felt someone behind him and turned and a cable shot out from his right sleeve and and used it to knock some kunai away from him.

He saw some Suna ninjas and Leaf ninjas standing on the dunes.

Deidara had to dodge again as all four wind torrents came shooting his way. He heard something behind him and saw a big guy in ANBU uniform and a girl with long hair rushing at him, they both hit him and Deidara's body turned to clay. Quickly Hinata grabbed Shi and they moved away from the clay substitution as it blew up. Deidara appeared out of the ground and was greatly annoyed.

Sasori said, "Someone is casting a genjutsu."

Deidara quickly bit his lip to draw blood and heard a voice behind him, "It's to late for you." he looked back and saw a ninja he heard about, "You must be The Copy Ninja, un?" Deidara's eyes started to glow and Kakashi jumped away from him as he blew up. Sasori regained his footing and saw Deidara jump out of the sand and he shot out the cable making it wrap around his arm and pulled him toward him.

The two Akatsuki ninja were back to back as they were surrounded by Leaf and Sand ninjas. Sasori said after looking at everyone, "Sand ninjas still hold that alliance with the Leaf?"

Kakashi and Kurenai were standing next to each other observing the two ninjas. Kurenai said, "The blonde ninja is missing an arm." Kakashi replied, "I know. There is something wrong with that other Akatsuki."

"How so?" asked Kurenai, they were interrupted when Hinata jumped down next to them telling them both, "Kurenai-sensei, Kakashi-sensei the Akatsuki ninja with the red hair he's a puppet."

"I thought so." said Kakashi.

Sasori thought as he examined each ninja, 'The Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake, The Genjutsu Mistress Kurenai Yuhi, and Ibiki Morino from Konoha.' he now observed the ninjas from his village and his eyes fell on two, ' The White Cloth, Maki and Isago the Wind Spear.' He told Deidara, "You escape now with the jinchuriki… I'll handle these ones."

Deidara smiled asking, "Playing hero are we, un?"

"None of the sort, we have to get the jinchuriki to the hideout. Naruto and Kisame will be waiting for you remember." said Sasori. They were both interrupted when Kakashi said loud enough for the two to hear, "So you're meeting with Naruto huh?" Kakashi pointed to his sharingan eye, "Maybe you shouldn't talk where I can see and read your lips."

Kakashi then shouted, "Everyone they have Gaara don't let either of the two escape!"

Sasori quickly ripped his cloak off revealing his body to in fact be a puppet, his stomach was open revealing the cable, attached to his back was a scroll holder, and attached to his back hips were two poles both equipped with five blades. Kakashi and Hinata saw the symbol on his left chest though a puppet they could see that he was a mass of chakra and that one spot was giving off a strange pulse.

Deidara said, "Oh man you're serious, un." he made a one handed seal saying, "Fine I'll leave them to you then." Hinata looked up saying something is coming from the sky causing a few look up and saw the large bird, "It has Gaara!"

When the bird landed Deidara jumped on it and Sasori smiled making him look more manic, "Time to end this. Let's test out how strong the the Leaf and Sand elite are." Deidara said, "You all are gonna regret making my main man Sasori angry, un."

The bird started to flap it's wings and Kakashi did his handsigns and lighting erupted from his hand, running at in human speeds he went for Deidara shouting, "Raikiri!" Just before he could hit him he felt something wrap around his wrist seeing the cable coming from Sasori, 'To be able to catch me at this speed.' Sasori said, "Not so fast."

Deidara's bird flew into the air and everyone started tossing kunais and shurikens at him, but the bird flapped it's wings with great force that it knocked the weapons back. Deidara was high enough to where they couldn't hit him and suddenly he heard someone scream, "Rasengan!"

Looking at the source of the voice he saw a blonde haired kunoichi flying at him like a missile and a blue sphere in his hand, Deidara has seen that technique before and quickly had his bird move dodging the move.

Haru was still mid air and faced her other hand in the air and shouted, "Summoning Jutsu!" a cloud of smoke erupted and a larger version of Gamatatsu appeared and she used him as a stepping stone and jumped off of him and was shot back at Deidara and she hit the bird at the neck decapitating it. Deidara lost control of the bird and held on as he fell with it.

Haru was free falling as well and saw the head of the bird still had the unconscious Gaara. She shouted, "Gamatatsu get Gaara-kun!" Doing as he was told Gamatatsu opened his mouth and his tongue lashed out and grabbed hold of Gaara. Haru charged another Rasengan and waited until she got close to the ground and she slammed her jutsu into the sand breaking her fall. Gamatatsu landed safely and he pulled the clay bird head off of Gaara and tossed in a random direction.

Deidara had manipulated the clay to recreate the birds head and was able to keep him self in the air with a smaller version of the bird.

Everyone saw the spectacle in the sky and Kakashi smiled under his mask, "Good job Haru." he looked at Sasori who was grinning as if he was impressed as well. The two locked eyes and Sasori said, "That's the Nine-Tailed jinchuriki isn't it?" Sasori noticed the small change in Kakashi's eyes, "Your silence says it all." There was a sudden change in air as he saw a gleam from a kunai and turned his head slightly and saw another familiar ninja, "Arashi Namikaze the Second Flash."

Deidara cursed under his breath and shouted, "Oi Sasori-sama! Just let me summon them we're gonna need the help, un."

Sasori wasn't worried despite his situation and he looked at Deidara and replied, "Do it." Deidara smiled, "Alright just don't die, un." the bird flew higher into the air and out of view.

Arashi said, "I don't know what you have planned Sasori but it won't work."

"I'm merely stalling. So will you kill me?" asked Sasori smugly. The other ninjas moved in and he heard a voice he hasn't heard in so long, "Sasori."

Turning his head slightly he saw his grandmother, "Chiyo-baasan, you're looking rather old." The old lady merely took in the sight of her grandson seeing how far of a puppet he's become, "You've done the most degraded thing a puppet user could do."

Sasori closed his eyes still with that smug look, "No I've become what I've always mastered. I've achieved eternal art and beauty." opening them again he said calmly, "As opposed to my partner who claims that art…" everyone started to feel the ground shake beneath their feet and Sasori continued, "Is a blast."

* Moments before *

Haru had placed Gaara's head on her lap as she checked him over. Sakura, Sasuke, Takako, and a few Suna nins rushed over to them checking to see if Gaara was alright. Haru quickly pleaded to Sakura, "Sakura-chan is he gonna be alright? He'll be fine right?" Sakura quickly kneeled down next to Gaara and began using her 'Mystical Palm Technique'. She kept her hands inches above his chest and let out a sigh of relief, "Haru-chan he'll be fine. No serious danger to him, but his chakra is low."

A female ninja from Suna kneeled down next to Gaara, she has long, light colored hair, which she ties in a bun on top of her head with a hair needle running through it. She also has two locks of hair with darkened tips framing each side of her face. Her outfit consisted of a sleeveless, backless top and short tight pants, with two lapels on the front and the back. She wears an obi around her waist, as well as light colored arm-warmers which extend up to her shoulders, and has bandages around her tights and ankles.

She said, "Most likely they sealed his chakra at a low point so that he wouldn't recover." Standing up she said to the Suna ninjas, "You all stay here with Gaara-sama, I'll go help back the others up."

Sasuke told his teammates, "Sakura-chan, Haru-chan you two should stay here too in case they return to capture him. Takako I'm guessing that you're coming with?" Takako was about to answer, but before she could there was suddenly a huge explosion coming from where the battlefield was. Sasuke looked at the woman and shouted, "Pakura-san we should go now!"

She agreed and they took off running to help their comrades. Jumping over a few dunes they rushed to where they could see black smoke from the explosion, close to their destination they saw their comrades were away from the explosion. Sasuke ran over to Kakashi asking, "Kakashi what happened?"

"They planted remote explosives beneath the sand." he told him. Sasuke looked over and saw Arashi was on one knee breathing a bit heavy, most likely using another space-time ninjutsu to evacuate the necessary people away from the explosion.

"You all escaped. Though I shouldn't be amazed since we are facing a group that have the Sharingan and Byakugan." When the smoke cleared Sasori had a scroll in his right hand that was unraveled, "Let's see how far you all get now. To think that I'm being reduced to using these puppets." his left wrist opened up and another scroll came out, "As well as using my favorite, but I've made my companions wait long enough… and I hate making people wait."

He tossed one scroll in the air watching as it unraveled in the air, he quickly opened a right chest compartment and unraveled his other scroll with his left hand. In one quick succession everyone looked up to the sky seeing one hundred puppets wearing red cloaks and black fur lining the collars and from the separate scroll was the Sandaime Kazekage. One hundred chakra threads emitted form his chest and connected with each of his one hundred puppets while Sasori used his main hands to connect to the Kazekage.

All the Suna ninjas were in shock upon seeing their Kazekage in a puppet form. Sasori still smiling said out loud, "Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets… and my Human Puppet the late Kazekage-sama." Everyone saw how seriously outnumbered they were. Sasori said, "Now let's end this game." He aimed his puppets at his enemies and they all heard the noises of the puppets as they rushed.

Arashi stood up calmly and rolled up his sleeves saying calmly, "Looks like I won't have to hold back."


	39. Family Affair

I am so sorry this took so long for an update, I know a few of you I kept saying next week, next week, and next week the past few months and I am sorry for that. To my readers I am sorry, if anyone deserves an explanation for why I haven't updated in so long it's you. Shortly after I updated I lost two people very close to me and in August I was laid off from my job along with many other workers so I went through a bit of a depression. I couldn't find the drive to want to write the next chapter and when I did it was a sentence here and a sentence there... Slowly I was loosing my interest in writing altogether, but thankfully my family and friends were there to pick me up and help me out of my rut though with the thought of my two loved ones still on my mind as they were people I would always see on a daily basis knowing that I woudln't see them again didn't help entirely. I'm back though and I hope that I can get the next chapter out hopefully late January or early February. Again I'm sorry it took so long and I do have a duty to my readers and I got a lot of 'Will you update?', 'Are you going to continue this story?', and 'Where are you?' messages... I'll answer those as 'I WILL continue Updating', 'I WILL continue this Story', and 'I am BACK'.

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Chapter 39: Family Affair

* Land of Wind *

Puppets rained down from the sky as they attacked everyone in sight. Sasori remained in the same spot with the Kazekage puppet hovering next to him and he watched with satisfaction as everyone fought his puppets. Chiyo shouted to everyone, "Don't get hit by the puppets! Sasori most likely coated all of them in poison."

Sasuke avoided a few puppets and had his sharingan activated and was able to predict the movements of some of the puppets as he evaded them. He did a few handsigns and took in a deep breath, 'Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!' he shot out a volley of small fireballs all of them hitting a few puppets knocking them back. Kakashi avoided getting cut in half and quickly summoned a clone. Both did the Raikiri the real Kakashi using his right hand and the clone using it's left, the two lighting jutsus created a kind of lighting chain and the both ran forward cutting down a few puppets with ease.

Pakura had small sun like orbs floating around her and she shouted, "Scorch Style: Extreme Melting!" the orbs flew at the puppets stopping them as a few started melting. Hana and her ninken used the Fang Rotating Fang all four becoming like buzz saws cutting a lot of puppets in pieces.

Hinata used her clan's taijutsu and used her palm strike hitting the puppets with enough force to break them to pieces. Ibiki did a few handsigns and then slammed his hand to the ground shouting, "Summoning Jutsu: Iron Maiden!" Something came out of the ground trapping ten puppets inside a white maneki neko, chains shot out of the sand wrapping around the statue and then dragged into the sand.

Shi used his monstrous strength to break a few of the puppets and Takako used her tanto to cut down a few of them as well. Arashi was surrounded by five puppets who started opening up parts of their bodies to attack, moving his foot an inch to his right and he vanished. Soon all the puppets shattered to pieces and Arashi reappeared in spot he was just at, kunai in hand and pieces of the puppets were just now falling to the floor.

Sasori watched with amusement as everyone struck down his puppets, he had around now thirty or so left. He pulled his remaining puppets back and everyone watched as the puppets lined up behind him, Sasori smiled and said, "Now I know how each of you fight. In mere minutes of fighting you can gain a lot by observing how your enemy fights."

Everyone remained on guard and Sasori's puppets behind him went limp and fell to the sand except for the Kazekage puppet. Chiyo quickly shouted, "Everyone get away from the broken puppets!"

It was too late as the broken puppets exploded. Sasori moved the Kazekage puppet in front of him and the iron sand came out of the puppet creating a large wall that protected him and his puppets from the explosion. The constant explosions from the puppets were the cause of Sasori placing numerous explosive tags in the heads, chest, arms, and legs. Unknown to the other ninjas Sasori had actually used his strings from his chest to move the broken pieces about so as to try and kill as many of them as possible.

When the explosions stopped the iron sand wall lowered and he saw a few Suna nins were caught in the explosion as well as a few Konoha nins. He saw a dome made out of cloth and he watched as it came undone and went into a woman's sleeves, he knew the kunoichi as Maki a very skilled and elite of Suna. "She protected the Hokage's son?" he said and also saw the Inuzuka girl and her ninken were also with them.

Kakashi came out of the sand along with Sasuke both took some damage from the explosion, but not a lot. Hinata managed to distance herself from the explosion in time with Takako. The ones caught in the explosion was Chiyo, but she defended herself using a mechanical left arm that used a chakra shield to protect her. Shi was also caught in the explosion and took a lot of damage along with Ibiki, but he was forcing himself to stand. Pakura was also caught in the explosion, but somehow only took minor damage. While the other ninjas were severely damaged from the explosion.

Sasori was still amused calling out to everyone, "I'll be more than happy to let you all live in exchange for the jinchuriki you have. Just hand over them over." There was a hushed silence and he suddenly heard someone behind him, "The answer is no, Sasori." He looked back and saw Arashi standing behind him.

'I didn't even sense him. No one has ever been able to get the drop on me like this." Sasori thought. Arashi had his kunai aimed at Sasori's back saying, "Don't make any sudden movements. Though you might be a puppet and not feel pain, I can still chop that body up with little effort."

Sasori made his Kazekage puppet fall to the sand and he calmly rose his hands in the air saying, "Which will it be? Capture? Or Kill?"

Arashi replied, "Depending on the information you have." Sasori chuckled, "I know a lot. I've been with this organization for a very long time, much longer than my partner."

"Then the answer is very self explanatory." Arashi told him, he then noticed a large shadow on the ground and looked up. This caused everyone else to do the same as they saw a giant white statue fall from the sky. Sasori said, "We had this prepared way before we attacked the Kazekage's son. You should run, this explosion is to great for anyone to get away from completely unscathed. I mean unless they are as fast as you."

Arashi backed away from Sasori and looked up at the giant statue, he did a few handsigns and then held out his kunai black writing appeared just beneath the statue and it began to disappear. Sasori looked up surprised thinking, 'That's a Space-Time Ninjutsu!' He looked at Arashi and used his Kazekage puppet again to strike Arashi, but Kakashi and Sasuke appeared and both kicked the puppet and Chiyo also appeared tossing some kunais at Sasori who backed away.

More and more the bomb was being sucked away, that was until it started glowing a bright white color and it blew up. The shockwave was powerful enough to knock everyone off their feet and else where there was another explosion where Arashi was sending the large bomb and the shockwave from that one kicked up sand creating a large sand cloud.

Haru came out from beneath the sand along with Sakura, they both hoisted Gaara up and Haru said, "Those were two big explosions enough to bury us under the sand." Sakura agreed, "Yeah, one came from the battlefield and the other just a couple miles away."

Standing up Haru said, "Sakura-chan take care of Gaara, they need my help." Sakura nodded, "Alright go!" Without another word Haru ran off to go help.

Arashi was barely standing up after the shockwave knocked him down, Sasori used the Kazekage puppet's kekkei genkai to shield himself from the shockwave and was smiling. Arashi looked around and saw that everyone else was still down from the attack and he was the only one standing.

"That was a close one. Had you not already separated half of the explosion no one here would be alive and you're not even worn out. You certainly are powerful, I dare say even stronger than myself." Sasori praised. Arashi was calm and wanted to keep Sasori's attention so that he wouldn't go after his comrades.

Sasori asked, "Now what will you do?"

"Win." Arashi said with confidence, he started running at Sasori. In retaliation Sasori used the Kazekage puppet to use his Iron Sand spitting out little grains of sand that shot at lighting fast speeds at him, the grains of sand seemed to go through Arashi which greatly surprised Sasori, more images of Arashi appeared on the field and before he knew it, he felt some one hit him and he flew back.

Arashi turned to the Kazekage puppet and did the same jutsu as before, but this time the puppet was completely engulfed and disappeared. Sasori looked up not amused asking, "Where is it?"

"I sent it elsewhere. That's my Space-Time Barrier jutsu, I sent to a place of my choosing far out of your range." Arashi said to him, "Give up Sasori."

"Onii-chan!"

Arashi turned around and saw Haru appear next to him, "How is he?" Haru answered not taking her eyes off of the Akatsuki ninja, "He's fine, Sakura-chan is healing him now." They both heard Sasori chuckle and they looked at him, "What's so damn funny!" Haru shouted.

Sasori answered, "You two. Being his siblings I can see a grave difference in personalities." The two scowled at him, "There isn't a doubt in my mind that the Namikaze family is a force to reckon with. I helped train that boy over the course of three years and he is strong. Maybe not as powerful as you Arashi-san, but certainly more powerful than your sister there."

"Why you!" Haru was about to charge forward, but Arashi stopped her, "Don't he's just baiting you."

"An easy tactic yet it almost worked. You can't control your feelings, you can't shut them out little girl, not like your brothers nor your father who I had the unpleasantry of meeting during the war." Sasori told the two, "He never fell for that goading, your big brother there didn't and I doubt that Naruto would either. You seem to be the odd one out in the family of talent."

Haru's fist trembling not out of fear, but out of anger. Her blue eyes were flashing red for an instant and Arashi quickly said, "Haru calm yourself." she started to breathe slowly and calmed down a bit.

Arashi aimed his kunai at the older ninja and said, "As long as I'm here you can't win. Even with your partner hiding above the clouds."

Sasori replied, "Hiding? He's not hiding I guarantee you that." The two Namikaze's looked on with confusion, "We've been buying time, the puppets, the explosions, everything was both a tactic to buy time and to create a diversion. Deidara never left the battlefield, he's been preparing."

Haru shouted at him demanding a response, "Preparing what!"

Sasori crossed his arms and said, "You know that we in the Akatsuki have names for our two man groups right?" Arashi and Haru continued staring at him as he talked, "Two Artists, that's the name bestowed upon myself and my partner. Of course your village met our Zombie Brothers, Kakuzu and Hidan." Sasori pointed behind him now and said, "Well these two are called the Monster Duo and you know them as well."

Looking behind Sasori they saw three figures making their way toward Sasori and finally they came into view and they saw Deidara appeared, but more importantly the 'Monster Duo' came into view, it was Naruto and Kisame. Deidara said, "That was a pain in the ass to do with one arm, un."

Kisame was smiling showing off his sharpened teeth, "I see why you two had trouble now. The Second Flash is here and it seems that the Nine-Tails is here too."

Arashi moved a bit in front of Haru with his kunai at the ready, "This was unexpected." he whispered. Deidara walked up to Sasori asking, "Oi, Sasori-sama, mind if I have Naruto here reattach my arm for me?"

"Your arm got taken off? When did that happen?" Kisame asked, Deidara looked upset and said, "The One-Tail Jinchuriki did this to me. Anyway from what I've seen from a distance all of them are pretty damn strong, un…" Deidara then smiled and replied, "Though I think the only one we should really worry about is the Second Flash, un."

The four Akatsuki stood there, Haru could feel the killing intent rolling off them. Almost suffocating, the amount of blood lust. She grabbed her arm feeling almost afraid, not of Naruto, but of the other three. Arashi calmly said to Haru, "Hey, just be my back up." Haru looked at her older brother in surprise, "I don't want you to be involved directly so be back up."

Arashi took out another one of his kunai and called out, "How about it Naruto?"

Kisame smiled showing his sharp teeth, "Hear that Naruto, he's calling you out." Naruto looked unnerved and said to his teammates, "Stay back. I'd like to see our gap in strength." Deidara, Sasori, and Kisame nodded and watched as Naruto walked forward. They knew how strong both ninjas were, but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see two Namikaze collide with one another.

"Haru, watch the other three. If they move at me then back me up. If they try for you then I want you to retreat. Understood?" Arashi asked not taking his eyes off of his little brother. Haru watched as Naruto got closer and answered, "I understand. I got something planned anyway." She took a few steps back and Arashi began walking toward Naruto.

The two Namikazes stopped just ten feet away from one another both with intensified stares. Arashi said with his arms now at his side, "Naruto… I don't hate nor despise you for what you've done. You're my brother and I want to protect you." Naruto didn't say anything and continued to listen, "Before we left on this mission… Kaa-san wanted me to tell you something." Arashi smiled and held out his hand that still held the kunai saying, "She says, 'I love you no matter what you've done. You're my little Naruto'."

It was a split second, but it was only Arashi who was able to see it and it made him smile more. He aimed his kunai at Naruto asking, "Shall we?" Naruto held his hands up and said, "I've always wanted to fight you. Don't go easy on me." Arashi replied, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Haru started to sweat and not from the heat, but out of nervousness. Meanwhile Kisame, Deidara, and Sasori watched with anticipation. It was almost instantaneously, but the two jumped at one another and Naruto pulled two kunai out that were in his pouch and they began to fight, sparks flying everywhere from their kunais hitting against one another. The two were complete blurs as they collided sand being kicked up from the speed of their attacks.

Deidara said out loud, "I can barely keep up they're moving so damn fast!"

Arashi found an opening and tried to stab Naruto in his leg, but the kunai shattered.

Naruto retaliated by trying to kick him in the head, but Arashi turned his body out of the way dodging the attack. The way he moved Arashi tried a spinning wheel kick to hit Naruto in the face, but like Arashi Naruto had easily avoided the kick. Arashi tossed his broken kunai at Naruto who hit it away from him, smiling Arashi vanished. Realizing what had happened Naruto looked at the kunai and quickly covered his whole body in his steel skin.

Arashi appeared slashed Naruto across his face hitting what he was aiming for, Naruto's eyepatch. The two jumped away from each other and Arashi saw the evidence of the Byakugan, the bulge of the veins next to his eyes. Arashi noted in his head, 'It really is the byakugan. That explains it all, father's deduction was right.'

There was a distance between the two was about the same as before, neither said anything and Arashi watched as Naruto opened his eye revealing the dojutsu of the Hyuuga clan. Naruto pointed his thumb at his eye asking, "Plan on taking it from me?"

Twirling the kunai in his index finger Arashi replied, "It's necessary to take anything that is part of Konoha back… to answer your question… yes, but this includes you as well." Naruto smiled and he completely removed his Akatsuki kimono and let it fall to the sand and smiled, "You know you're the only one in Konoha who made me feel like I could give a genuine smile. You always had this protective older brother aura." Naruto was bare chest and you could see numerous stitch markings around his arms and body.

Arashi stopped twirling his kunai and held it firmly in his grip and Naruto said to his older brother, "And also the one I feel I could really let loose against. I'll test my strength against you."

What seemed to be instantaneous they both vanished and reappeared both swinging with precision trying to land a hit on one another, but were unsuccessful as they were gracefully dodging each others attacks. Haru watched in awe as her brothers were fighting and was barely able to keep up with their speeds as well, 'No wonder nii-san is able to stand toe-to-toe with Itachi. He simply is to fast for anyone to keep up and yet Naruto is matching him.'

The three Akatsuki ninjas watched as the two fought and were impressed with the rate they were fighting. Arashi reached down and grabbed Naruto by the ankle and pulled him putting him off balance and Naruto retaliated by pushing both his palms at his brother and a wind jutsu launched out and nearly hit Arashi who dodged it barely. Once his back hit the ground Naruto quickly shot back up and disappeared using his Swift.

Arashi leaned back avoiding a kick to the head and grabbed hold of Naruto's leg and tossed him, "To slow Naruto!" he shouted. Naruto's hand touched the ground and he flipped in the air, but saw that Arashi was in his face. Naruto disappeared again and reappeared trying to distance himself from him, then felt a kunai against his throat. Turning his head just a bit he saw Arashi was behind him with the kunai aimed at his throat and Naruto thought to himself, 'He tagged me back then when he grabbed my ankle.'

"You can't escape from me this time." Arashi said calmly. Naruto responded, "You won't kill me." there was a brief pause and Naruto spun around quickly taking out a kunai and sparks started to fly as their weapons clashed. Naruto kicked out at Arashi who ducked under the kick, the threads unraveled from Naruto's thigh and he dispatched his leg, quickly using his thread he made his kick change direction and he hit Arashi who blocked it just in time, but was still knocked back.

Naruto reattached his leg and watched Arashi slowly get back to his feet, "Pretty tricky little brother, I wasn't expecting that." Naruto's thread came out from his side and attached to one of his masks that were on his obi and stitched it into Naruto's right shoulder and then another to his left shoulder. Naruto held out his hands and wind started to circulate into a sphere and Naruto said with a smile, "This is gonna be fun."

The stitching on Naruto's forearm opened up and the platinum powder poured out and started to float around Naruto making a ring around him and Naruto's skin hardened using the steel release. The mask on on his hip moved to his stomach and opened it's mouth, now ready for combat Naruto ran at Itachi with his platinum powder still hovering around his body.

Kisame watched and replied, "Naruto's absolute attack and defense. No blind spot in his defense nor can anyone escape his attack easily. This'll be fun to watch."

When Naruto got close Arashi teleported and appeared quickly behind Naruto and tried to touch him on his shoulder to place another seal on him to restrict his movement. A spike soon shot off of the platinum ring and almost hit Arashi in his stomach. Naruto smiled and saw Arashi with his byakugan off to the side, "You escaped at the last possible second." Naruto pointed to his eyes, "This is why I took a Magnet user after hearing the stories about Sunagakure's jinchuriki with the ability of the ultimate defense I decided to base this style off of him. I have no blind spot and with my reaction time I can bend the powder to my whim to defend me." Facing Arashi he pointed to his body, "I chose a steel user for the defense as well."

Naruto pointed to his stomach, "The Lava user for the attack." and finally pointed to his back, "And the Swift user for the extra kick of speed. With this byakugan I can combat even the fastest fighters accordingly, no genjutsu could be placed on me, and I can see you no matter where you go in the fight."

Arashi listened to his little brother and couldn't hear any gloating in his voice, he wasn't speaking about his strength and power… There was something he wasn't catching.

Naruto soon took his eyes off of Arashi jumped out of the way avoiding the sand that collapsed under his feet and a large puppet shot out of the ground. Sasori quick to react rushed ahead and locked on his Chakra threads to hold onto a giant circular tribal mask with sharp fangs, fur lining the edge of the mask and a cloak covering the rest of the body, 'The Sand Trapper Puppet… Oba-san do you have anything original.' Sasori thought to himself. He was about to summon out another puppet, but he felt someone kick him in the head and was sent flying and hitting the sand hard. Looking up quickly he saw Haru was giving him a cocking grin, "Stay down Sasori!"

"I won't be beaten by the likes of you Namikaze!" he said with venom lacing his voice. He heard a sound from the puppet above and Sasori quickly released the puppet and got out of the way of the two elite ninjas who came down trying to kill him, but missed it was Kakashi and Pakura.

Kisame held up Samehada and said, "Looks like the one on one is over." and he charged. Deidara shouted, "Hey guys I don't have my arm still!" despite his lost arm he ran forward pulling out more pre made sculptures he had hidden on him.

Naruto used his platinum powder to create a platform under his feet and to keep him in the air. He spun around and blocked a punch from Arashi who appeared behind him. The platform was big enough to hold the two, but they stood both feet planted and tried to hit the other. Elsewhere Kisame found a few sand ninjas jumping out of the sand all attacking with wind attacks, smiling he swung his sword hitting the wind attacks and absorbing the chakra from the attacks, he heard a rapid spinning noise and turned around seeing two buzz saw blades coming his way along with a fast moving twister. He jumped and nimbly avoided all four and when they dissipated he saw the Inuzuka girl along with her ninken. He was about to attack, but heard another noise behind him and he barely avoided a punch from Ibiki who was smiling at him to which Kisame gave his shark teeth grin.

Sasuke finally recovered after the attack helping to pull Hinata out of the sand, "Arigatou Sasuke-kun." Sasuke asked, "Why isn't your byakugan activated?"

"I have to conserve some chakra. I've been using it non stop until the battle. I'm a bit drained by it." They were brought out of their conversation by the sound of moving sand and they saw Shi coming out of the sand. The two quickly ran over and helped him up with Sasuke asking, "You good to fight still?" Shi nodded showing that he could still fight. The three then heard a strange noise behind them and saw misshapen human figures made of clay running at the two. Hinata took out the Black Mamba holding it one hand and had her left hand open in a palm strike form and Sasuke calmly held up his hands to fight and he saw a tanto tossed in front of his face and he grabbed it. He looked at Shi who had his fists up saying, "You could use that to fight Sasuke-san."

"Thanks." Sasuke replied.

Deidara watched from a distance as the Konoha ninjas battled his deformed sculptures and then suddenly heard someone running at him and avoided a few kicks and punches. Distancing himself he remembered her from one of the hit lists, "You must be Kurenai the Genjutsu Mistress." Kurenai stood up tall and replied, "And you must be Deidara from Iwa. Nice to make your acquaintance." Deidara replied holding out a clay sculpture in his hand, "The art of Genjutsu vs the Art of Explosions."

Chiyo crawled out of the sand and saw most of the battle, "I have to seal Naruto away for a moment, I owe it to Kushina." she looked around and saw a battle in the sky soon ten puppets were wearing white cloaks with hight collars each with a crest on their foreheads. The puppets flew up to where Naruto and Arashi were fighting. Naruto saw the puppets heading towards him with his byakugan and quickly had his Jyoki mask open it's mouth and Naruto said, "Lava Style: Grand Lava Bombs!" Arashi saw a bright light emit from the mask's mouth followed by the growl. He vanished and barely avoided the lava ball that shot out.

The platinum powder turned back into the ring and Naruto vanished reappearing on the ground below. Arashi appeared next to Chiyo to defend her, Naruto looked at the two and said to his brother, "This is fun, but I have to work to a schedule otherwise he'll bug me about not being able to get the job done."

"The one you talk about it's Madara isn't it?" Arashi asked Naruto. Chiyo's eye twitched at the mention of Madara who she thought died decades ago, Naruto didn't bother hiding it, "Yeah he always hounds me about my loyalties. If I bring him the Ichibi Jinchuriki then maybe he'll finally leave me alone." Naruto knew that there was no point in hiding it since he knew that his father would know and he had a feeling that it wasn't exactly a secret anymore.

Arashi said to Chiyo, "If you can corner him I can latch a seal onto him and restrain him." Chiyo tried to say, "Wouldn't it be better to whisper?"

"No point, Naruto has the byakugan he can read lips as well. He showed a knack for it before he left Konoha when Haru tried to mess with him." Arashi explained to her. Chiyo looked up and her puppets were still hovering above Naruto she just waited no reason to rush it. Naruto could hear the sounds of the battlefield was actually scanning for Gaara, but his attention was drawn to something else.

"Aniki mind if I ask you something?"

Arashi kept his guard up, "Sure why not? What's your question?" Naruto let his hands fall to his sides and asked, "Are you still with Hana-chan?"

"I am. Why?" Arashi asked back still not taking his eyes off of him. Naruto looked over to where Kisame was fighting, "How important is she to you? I'm not asking in a threatening way… Just asking."

"I love her." it was a quick response and Naruto looked back at his brother, "What about you Naruto? Do you still love Hinata-chan, because she still defends you even after everything you've done. She's loyal to you, but are you loyal to her?"

Naruto closed both eyes and crossed his arms across his chest, "My heart…" Naruto touches his chest, "When I even see a glimpse of her, it beats fast much faster than my other four hearts. It's warm a feeling that I don't want to loose and I have no rational explanation as to why." Arashi smiled knowing that the words coming from his brother were genuine. Naruto pointed to where Kisame was and said, "Kisame is about to kill Hana."

Arashi stopped smiling and his eyes widened in fear without another word he vanished and left Chiyo there. Chiyo looked at Naruto asking, "That was your plan to separate from him wasn't it?"

"It is. I can fight my brother one on one with no trouble, the problem is that you're here along with ten puppets made by Monzaemon Chikamatsu. Sasori told me about you and how you fight."

"He did hmm. Well I'm actually here for three separate reasons, all three in a way are personal. I'm good friends with your mother, she came to Suna years before your triumphant return to Konoha and the two of us became fast friends. She's kind, brash, a bit tomboyish, helpful, and she spoke highly about loving the fact that she was a mother." Chiyo told Naruto who looked indifferent at what she was saying, "I say this because two of the reasons are because of you and your twin sister. I'm here to take Gaara back because I'm at fault for his current situation, I'm also here because I won't let the Akatsuki take Haru, and lastly." The ten puppets slowly surrounded Naruto, but remained at a distance, "Im here because I am a comrade of Konohagakure and I will capture you for Kushina."

Naruto watched her and calmly stated, "Looks like my family can touch the hearts of others. Do the Namikaze's have many allies?"

"It would appear so." She told him. Naruto held his arms out in a combat position and said, "Let's see if you can keep up with youth Chiyo."

* Kisame Battle- Same Time *

Kisame kicked Hana in the stomach knocking her into a sand dune. One of the ninken tried to bite him, but he grabbed the dog by the throat and slammed it to the ground. He lifted his leg up for an axe kick, but yet another one of the dogs came and bit him in the leg stopping him. Hana tried to get up and was helped by one of her ninken who bit her flak jacket and jumped away with her.

He slammed his fist on the dog's nose making it yelp in pain and in the process let go as well. After that Kisame kicked the dog in the side sending it flying and hitting the sand hard, walking over slowly to finish the dog off he spun around and grabbed another one that had lunged at him by the throat. Hana and her ninken that protected her both charged and spun rapidly.

Kisame saw them coming at him and held the dog up playing chicken with them. When they got close enough they changed course and went around him, Hana stopped her jutsu the second she was to his side and lunged at him swinging wildly at him while shouting, "Let go of him!" Kisame used little effort to avoid her attacks he used Samehada to extend it's spikes at her a few of them nicked her, but didn't injure her severally.

Once he was distanced from her he looked behind him and saw her one okay ninken was behind him snarling at him, "Inuzuka's really latch onto their pups don't they?"

"Let him go now!" she shouted in anger and showing her fangs at him. Tilting his head with his hand still latched onto one of her dog's necks he said, "I've met a few Inuzuka's in my time, but you were the only one who doesn't have that wild appearance. That seems to be changing now, you look more feral than before." She didn't answer and he noticed her canine fangs grew longer along with her finger and toe nails.

Intrigued he held the dog up at her saying, "I wonder how much stronger you'll get… if I do this." at that instant all you could hear was a crack and Kisame let the dog fall to the ground. Hana froze and remained rooted to the ground, her eyes wide open looking at her dog who was lying lifelessly in the sand. Showing his sharpened teeth he called to her, "Let's see how monstrously you fight now."

Hana's eyes narrowed and she screamed and immediately dropped on all fours and vanished. Kisame was surprised for a moment, but jumped back avoiding Hana's attack when she reappeared. Kisame could feel the evil intent practically radiating off of her, she had a small pill in her hand and she tossed it into his mouth. Kisame turned and saw the ninken's fur color changed a darker shade of gray and smoke enveloped him and he saw that the dog looked exactly like Hana.

Kisame held up Samehada and replied, "This is gonna be a blood bath. Both disappeared and he remained still remembering his training for becoming a swordsman of the Mist listening to all the sounds around him. For a split second he heard it, dodging to the left he avoided a strike behind him, he couldn't tell if it was Hana or her ninken that struck out at him. He was about to slam Samehada onto her, but the other Hana appeared grabbing onto the first and moved both of them away from the attack. Staying calm he heard a shout, "Fang Rotating Fang!" He looked back and saw two buzz-saw blades heading toward him. One was vertical and the other was horizontal, Kisame jumped avoiding the horizontal one and used Samehada to defend against the second one. Sparks flew in the air as the two collided with one another.

Grinning he said, "Got you!"

The buzz saw slowed and suddenly stopped and he swung with all his might like he was swinging a baseball bat. With all his might he saw Hana fly and crash into the sand next to her dead ninken. She held her ribs as blood poured out from her wound she received from the sword. Kisame replied, "I drained your chakra and since you didn't revert back to a dog I can safely assume that you are the real one."

Spinning around he swung Samehada again just in time to hit her disguised ninken drain it of it's extra chakra and make it change back. Her ninken fell to the sand uncurious and Hana looked over to her dogs seeing all three were unconscious. She touched her dead one saying, "Hai, Ma, Ru… I'm sorry especially to your Ru… I couldn't save you." She was starting to cry as Kisame walked over to her and looked down at the scene before him. He held up Samehada in the air and for a split second he saw a woman with long light brown hair. He stopped momentarily, but then swung Samehada down to kill her.

Samehada hit the ground, but he didn't feel it impact a body. Confused he didn't see her or her ninken and instead saw just sand, he looked around and then his eyes fell onto Arashi who was holding Hana in his arms and the ninken was at his feet. His eyes gave off a deathly glare toward him, "So the Second Flash appears. Judging by why you're here I'm guessing that you care for that girl more than your little brother." He didn't get a response and he rested Samehada on his shoulder, "I thought that she would be more of a challenge, but she barely put up a fight even when enraged."

Arashi said to him, "Don't move. I'll be back in a seven seconds." Kisame was a bit confused and saw him vanish, "What the hell?" seven seconds later Arashi reappeared without Hana, but now two kunai were in his hands.

"Looks like a rematch from three years ago." Kisame said aiming Samehada at him, 'In all honestly I don't think that I can beat this guy one on one.'

Arashi replied, "I'll go slow so you can keep up."

"Looking down on me huh? You'll regret that!" Kisame shouted as he ran at him.

* Meanwhile *

Naruto was jumping around avoiding the attacks of a puppet of Chiyo's that looked like a woman holding two massive swords. The platinum powder moved in front and blocked one of the attacks, Chiyo stood back keeping one puppet with horns close by. Naruto continued avoiding the attacks and did a back flip avoiding another puppet that had a single patch of hair that stood up atop his head. Landing he easily avoided the female and the other puppet, meanwhile Naruto looked inside of the mechanism of the puppets seeing the weapons that they contained inside themselves.

His platinum powder shot up blocking a two puppet combination attack which was a red faced puppet with a orb coming from beneath the head and four chakra blades spinning like a buzz saw, it's hand was connected with another puppet with long black hair. Both of their arms were able to extend making it long distance combination. Naruto leapt into the air avoiding it and continued observing the puppets.

Five black cables headed his way and Naruto spun around with wind chakra circling his fist, "Wind Style: Great Wind Straight!" punching his fist forward a advanced version of his Wind Straight attack the wind shot out into wind tunnel with a great impacting force that headed toward a bald blue puppet with the black cables coming out of it's head. When it impacted the puppet was destroyed with one hit.

Naruto landed back on the sand and the puppets surrounded him again. Naruto said to her, "Puppets aren't the best to use against me. I can see all parts of them making it impossible to attack me." Chiyo had to admit that she fought a few byakugan users back in her time and never really succeeded against them since they could see her attacks coming ahead of time. Usually she would be able to overwhelm her opponents, but that won't work this time. She made a few hand movements and the girl and horned puppet moved in to attack. Naruto blocked with his steel arm the two swords that came down at him and blocked the horned puppet's massive fist with his other hand.

The puppet with the patch of hair on it's head moved in and it's arms extended and spikes came out creating a cage trapping Naruto with the puppets. Another puppet appeared with a single eye and opened it's mouth revealing a small lion head with numerous fangs, when it shot it grew bigger and Chiyo saw sand kick up from the lion mask hitting the sand and hopefully Naruto.

She couldn't see because of the sand, but the activated as proof of the black markings that appeared over the sand. The sand finally died down and she was shocked seeing eight of her puppets were all stuck together in weird angels and a black thread was going in and around them all sewn together. Naruto meanwhile was standing outside the cage, his hand going through her caging puppets chest, it's head blown off, and it's arms were shot out of their sockets and he had a sword in his other hand with the same thread going through the eye of the sword.

Chiyo was beyond shocked and Naruto told her, "I'm too fast for you. Normally I like to take my time in fighting to really get to see my opponents' attacks, but I detest fighting against puppet users. Take your puppets away and you've lost." Naruto ripped his arm out of the puppet and turned off his steel skin and his platinum powder retreated his mask's mouth. A blue sphere appeared in the palm of her hand, it was a technique she'd seen before. Naruto charged forward shouting, "Rasengan!"

Acting quick Chiyo held her right hand up and four parts of her arm came up revealing that her right arm was in fact mechanical. Chakra emerged creating a shield and Naruto's Rasengan hit it, but did no damage to which Naruto was a bit surprised. Chiyo moved her left index finger and the orb from her red puppet and the four blades spinning wildly, Chiyo knew that his wouldn't work, but she needed to try something.

Naruto vanished and she stopped her attack looking around for the blonde haired ninja. Chiyo looked for him, but couldn't see him anywhere and Naruto reappeared above her a Rasengan in his hand as he was about to hit her with out her knowing. Hearing a spiraling sound she looked up and saw that Naruto was coming and she was to late to stop it. Happening in an instant, Chiyo felt someone push her and then a loud explosion following after that.

Sand kicked up and she felt someone grab her and pull her away, looking up she saw Haru, "Hey oba-san you alright?"

"Hai, what was that just now?" Chiyo asked her. Haru was able to put distance between them and pointed, "I'm about to go all out." Chiyo looked at the dying sand and saw Naruto and Haru were apart from each other which meant that the one who moved her was a clone.

Naruto looked at his right hand seeing scorch marks leading all the way up to his elbow. Haru was smiling at him shouting, "Round three!" Naruto replied, "You've already lost twice to me. Do you want to add another one to that so badly?"

Haru pointed at him, "Last time I wasn't in the right state of mind. I won't make that same mistake twice." Naruto stabbed his Nuibari sword in the sand and rubbed his scorched arm, "We'll see about that." he disabled his byakugan telling his twin, "Let's see how strong you actually are."

Chiyo and the Haru clone watched from a distance as the two siblings were about to square off. Naruto pulled out his Nuibari and ran at her shouting, "Let's see how good your kenjutsu really is!" Haru pulled out a scroll and unsealed her Kubikiribōchō and they were in a dead lock. Naruto saw that sword and commented, "So you have one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist's swords as well."

Haru nodded, "Yeah and over the past few years I've really gotten the handle on it." Naruto said with a smug remark, "We'll see." using his strength he pushed her back making her raise both hands in the air. He tried to kick her, but she leaned far back avoiding it and followed up by using as much of her weight as possible to swing her head forward and she landed a headbutt hitting Naruto square in the forehead and making him stumble back. A cut appeared on his forehead and Haru dropped her Kubikiribōchō and was holding her head shouting, "Damn that hurt more than I thought!"

Naruto really felt that one and wasn't expecting something like that to come from her, though he should've. Haru looked at him shouting, "What the hell is your head made out of!" Naruto quickly replied, "I should ask you that it felt like I was hit with a steel pole."

Haru backed away a bit and said, "Okay let's try that again." she leaned down and picked up her Kubikiribōchō swung her sword horizontally. Naruto jumped in the air and despite being far from her he knew that she could use her wind chakra to extend the reach of her broadsword. Haru thought to herself, 'He saw that one coming even without that eye of his.' She grinned, 'But what about this?" Turning her sword slightly Naruto saw a paper seal on it and smoke shot out and hundreds of shurikens and kunai shot at him, "Weapon Style: Hidden Steel Rain!"

Naruto's Bannai mask opened it's mouth and the platinum powder shot out making a shield defending him. Haru watched as he landed on the ground and the powder went back in the mask, 'A retractable defense. Almost like Gaara-kun's sand barrier. I have to keep him guessing.' Haru shouted, "Massive Shadow Clone Jutsu!" smoke shot out everywhere and Naruto saw at least a hundred clones.

'This might be fun!' Naruto thought running blindly into the crowd of clones and even without his byakugan he was doing well, he just needed to keep moving. Naruto felt something grab his ankle and saw a pair of hands coming out of the sand, the clones took this chance and jumped on Naruto grabbing him trying restrict his movements. Naruto whispered, "Magnet Style: Platinum Quills" sharpened platinum spikes shot out from his stitching hitting the clones and Naruto quickly stabbed Nuibari into the sand hitting the clone that held his ankles, then followed up by saying, "Magnet Style: Opposite Attraction!" his chakra burst out from his body in a large area and the clones saw the kunai and shurikens from earlier move toward Naruto and he shouted making the sharp weapons shoot outward destroying a large number of the clones.

A few clones were still around Naruto jumped in the air after feeling the sand move below him avoiding the large Kubikiribōchō that shot out of the sand. Haru appeared behind him doing a spinning back fist, but Naruto blocked it just off of instinct. Not amused that Haru that attacked smiled and her clothes vanished and another Haru appeared shocking Naruto who was hit just beneath his ribs making him wince. The Kubikiribōchō that shot out of the sand also turned to smoke revealing another Haru who kicked Naruto in the jaw making fly in the air.

Naruto suddenly felt an large hand grab his body and saw Haru was on the ground with the Kyuubi's chakra surrounding her, but it wasn't one of her tailed forms. She extend the red chakra around her arm and yanked Naruto back down and jumping out of the sand were three clones all pulling their fists back and hitting Naruto with all their might in his face sending him flying and the real Haru who was surrounded by the Kyuubi's chakra shouted, "Haru Namikaze! Attack Barrage!" Naruto impacted the sand hard and was wincing from the overall might of the attack commenting to himself, "I should've kept my byakugan activated. I underestimated her."

Pulling himself up Naruto saw that Haru dispelled all her clones and Haru stood there with her arms crossed smiling. Naruto dusted himself off and heard a familiar voice in his head, "Naruto retreat now…"

"What? We're not done here we still haven't captured the Ichibi yet!" He said out loud. Haru was eyeing him suspiciously, 'Who is he talking to?'

There was a brief pause and Naruto closed his eyes and said, "Understood." Naruto looked at Haru and turned his back to her, "See ya." he started to walk away, but he jumped in the air avoiding Haru who charged him trying to kick him, 'Damn he saw it coming!' she thought. Naruto had his byakugan activated and distanced himself from Haru, "Sorry, but I have other things to do."

"You think that I'll just let you walk away!? No chance!" she shouted at him. Naruto looked to his right and said, "So that's where Gaara is." Haru's eyes widened in shock and she moved so that she was in his line of sight, "I won't let you get to him."

Naruto said in a mocking tone, "Won't let me? Can you honestly beat me one on one."

"Not alone!"

Naruto was so focused on Gaara's position that when focused his byakugan sight he saw Sasuke (sharingan activated), Shi and Hinata all three were behind him. Naruto cracked his neck and his masks each let out their own noise, "Looks like I have to go all out. No this is good." he looked at Sasuke in particular, "Kakuzu taught me a very powerful fuinjutsu and you're the perfect test subject." Naruto although outnumbered still remained calm, "Who wants to go first?"

Sasuke didn't hesitate and shot out a fire jutsu and Naruto's Bannai mask opened it's mouth and a water ball shot out a water ball that cancelled out the fire jutsu. Once he got close they started to fight in taijutsu, Shi had followed behind Sasuke and tried to punch Naruto. Seeing it coming he quickly avoided the attack, Haru appeared in front of Naruto was amazing speed and punched Naruto in the stomach making him fly into a sand dune.

Sasuke looked at Haru saying, "Hey good shot-" He stopped and really noticed that Haru's eyes were different they looked like green toad eyes and she had a pink eyeshadow around her eyes. Haru told Shi Hinata, and Sasuke, "He's trying to get to Gaara keep him away!" The three understood and followed after Naruto.

Naruto pulled himself out of the sand and held his stomach his stomach was covered with his Steel skin, but he still felt the pain, "So that's the power of Senjutsu." He caught something in his vision and saw Shi and Hinata appear. Both tried to strike him, but he was faster and grabbed both of them by their wrists stopping their attack. Sasuke appeared in between the two with a kunai in his hand to try and stab Naruto.

"Predictable." Naruto said as threads shot out of his masks and wrapped around Shi and Sasuke. Hinata twisted her wrist making chakra shoot out from her wrist making Naruto let go. Once free she changed the chakra in her hand to the similarity of a blade and cut the threads, once they were free Sasuke did handsigns at amazing speeds shouting out, "Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!" Hinata and Shi jumped out of the way avoiding the attack. Naruto was engulfed by the flames and Sasuke continued his fire jutsu a little while longer. He finally ended the technique and Hinata knew that Naruto wouldn't be beaten by a jutsu like that and in fact was watching him. That white powder shot up creating a barrier around him.

Sasuke looked back wondering how much longer Haru would need. Naruto started to move his powder went back in his body and each step he took he could hear glass shatter, Sasuke's technique was so hot that it turned the sand around him to glass. Once again facing the three he was about to attack, but a sudden flash of yellow appeared in front of him that yellow flash turned out to be Haru she landed perfectly aimed uppercut that knocked Naruto in the air.

Reacting quickly Sasuke and Shi leapt into the air Sasuke and Shi both hit Naruto with enough force to send him crashing to the ground. Hinata watched the battle and felt that something wasn't right, he wasn't trying at all. Naruto was barely using any technique and he seemed to be slower in his responses, she watched as he stood up and Haru ran at Naruto and unleashed a flurry of punches to his body. Haru's final attack was a straight right that hit him square in the jaw making him spin multiple times before hitting the sand.

Haru was breathing rather heavily, "Had enough?" she asked. Naruto slowly rose back up to his feet messing with his jaw, "No I got the information I need." Instantly Naruto vanished and appeared behind Haru doing a spinning back fist. Haru was able to sense him and ducked under and Naruto gathered more information, vanishing again he went for Sasuke trying to punch him in the face.

The Uchiha was able to predict the attack and he leaned back avoiding the attack as well. Naruto once again vanished and appeared standing alone, both Haru and Sasuke eyed him suspiciously and Naruto answered, "Now I know how fast you move to oncoming attacks. So let's try this again." Naruto barely moved his foot and he whispered, "Swift Style: Blind Attack." he disappeared and went for Haru first he threw a left punch, but Haru thanks to her Senjutsu was able to avoid the punch by leaning to her right, but then felt something hit her stomach and knock her off her feet. Naruto had separated his right hand with his stitches and made it move independently of his own body. Naruto used that same hand to grab her by her ankle and swing her around in the air and toss her at Shi who caught her making him skid across the sand for a brief moment.

Naruto showed up behind him and covered his whole right leg with his Steel release and kicked Shi in his side making the two ninjas fly into a sand dune. Hinata watched shocked as Naruto took the two down with now little effort. Naruto quickly vanished appeared next to Hinata wrapping his arm around her waist, Sasuke charged at Naruto to stop him, but Naruto said out loud, "Too slow." and he vanished with Hinata.

Sasuke couldn't keep up with the speed Naruto now moved at, "He took Hinata. Damn!" before he could go get Haru or Shi Naruto reappeared behind Sasuke his back to the Uchiha, "Why save Gaara?" Sasuke froze in his step and barely looked over his shoulder at Naruto, "Where's Hinata?" Sasuke asked in a dangerously low tone. Naruto pointed, "I put her over there. I don't want her to see what I have to do, so why save Gaara?"

"What kind of question is that?" He asked looking at him. Naruto looked at the Uchiha seeing the famed sharingan, "You love my sister don't you?" Sasuke was taken off guard by Naruto's words, "But from what I've witnessed it seems that Haru is in love with another. I know what happened at the Chunnin Exams three years ago from all the commotion that was given about the kiss seen around the world." Sasuke didn't change his expression as Naruto spoke, "You save the man the woman you love, loves instead of you. Makes no sense to me." Sasuke balled his hands into fists as Naruto now faced him entirely, "I can make it so that Haru is yours let me walk away right now. I go over there knock out Sakura and take Gaara. We seal the biju in him, he dies, and Haru turns to you for comfort."

Sasuke's eyes looked downcast actually considering Naruto's suggestion… Naruto looked up and saw Deidara was far off, but was indeed making his way over to them he was still a ways away though he didn't want him to interfere. Naruto started to walk passed Sasuke and thought, 'Last thing I need is for an unnecessary audience.' Naruto started saying to Sasuke, "You chose right. Just tell everyone that I was able to slip passed you, there was nothing you could do."

"Wait." Naruto stopped and looked at Sasuke, "You obviously don't care for your sister's happiness. You're something else." Sasuke took out another kunai and aimed it at Naruto, "All you've done is make her cry and if I let you take 'him' away then I'll have to see those tears. It's true I love her and that she is in love with another…"

Confused by his actions Naruto asked, "So why?"

Sasuke smiled and lightning charged in his hand and kunai, "It's the only way I can express my feelings for her!" a sudden inspiration hit him as he asked, "That's blind love, but tell me… Would you do the same if I told you that Hinata loved another?" he got the response he wanted which was Naruto's visible eye narrowing in what seemed like anger and in an instant the lighting shot out of the kunai in the form of a spear and pierced Naruto through his back and out of his chest greatly surprising Naruto. Blood seeped out of the corners of his mouth as his Ondekomen Mask let out a loud screech as it detached from Naruto jumping at Sasuke trying to wrap around him.

He released his lightning jutsu because of the black mass that attacked him, but it was weak it seemed to be dying. He was able to get off, but Naruto appeared in front of Sasuke his left fist surrounded by his Steel release and he threw an overhand right punch that hit the Uchiha square in the face with enough force to knock him straight down at Naruto's feet, the very sound of the impact was enough to make an echoing sound. Naruto grabbed Sasuke by his collar and lifted him into the air, seeing that he was unconscious. Naruto was about to attack him again, but he then suddenly felt two palms strike him in his chest knocking him back and making him drop Sasuke.

He slid back and saw Hinata standing where he just was she was breathing kind of heavily like she had just ran a marathon. Hinata walked over to Naruto with her hands kept at her side showing that she wasn't there to harm him, "Naruto-kun stop this." Naruto continued watching her a she walked closer to him. Now standing before him she grabbed his hand asking him, "Naruto-kun this isn't you… You'd never attack your friends like this."

Naruto looked at Sasuke seeing him staring to recover and was trying to stand, "I've never viewed him as a friend. Barely even an acquaintance." Hinata stood her ground saying to him, "Regardless he's our friend! He's a Konoha ninja!"

"I'm no longer a ninja of Konoha." Naruto said matter of fact tone. Hinata reached up and placed the palm of her hand on the far right side of his chest, "I know that you still keep your original heart." Naruto's eyes widened at that statement wondering how she could possibly know only Kakuzu and Kisame of their group know no one else, she didn't remove her hand and asked, "Why is it that no one died when you and your partner attacked Konoha and why is it that you used every ounce of your ability to fight your hardest against Chiyo and your brother… but not against us?"

Naruto gritted his teeth wanting to back away from her, but couldn't her hand was giving off a warmth he hadn't felt in a long time. Hinata slowly closed the distance until she was pressed against him, "You tell me, you look me in my eyes and say that you absolutely don't care about your village nor me… and I'll stop chasing you." He's never seen her like this she was always the meek little ninja who never would've done this even when he went to Konoha she seemed so submissive that if he said for her to join him on the spot she would do it in an instant.

Feeling defeated, actually defeated to the point where he was trapped he hung his arms loosely at his side closed his byakugan eye and stared at her with his normal blue eyes, "That statement… I do care."

"Naruto!"

He looked back and saw Shi rushing him charging a massive amount of chakra into his fist. From the speed he was gaining it'd be enough to severely injure Naruto and kill Hinata and from the angle he was coming at he can't see her. Naruto was going to use his swift, but for some reason he felt weak, so instead he quickly grabbed Hinata by her jacket and tossed her away and summoned out his steel skin, Sasuke watched finally regaining himself and saw Shi's fist hit Naruto square in the chest and in the briefest moments the steel skin cracked and the blonde ninja was sent flying colliding with numerous sand dunes.

Shi asked, "Hinata-sama I didn't see you there!" Hinata got up and ignored him and was about to chase after Naruto fearing that he was genuinely hurt. Haru appeared in front of Hinata stopping her, "Wait Hinata-chan!"

"Why!? Naruto-kun might be hurt!" Hinata protested her friend, but she calmly said, "Something has appeared!" Hinata stopped wondering what she meant and the other two walked over with Sasuke asking her, "What are you talking about?"

Haru looked over to the direction where Naruto was sent flying saying, "In my Sage Mode I can feel the chakra of everyone around here. By Naruto there's another that just appeared out of thin air and his chakra before Shi struck him it was like it was cut to less than half in an instant."

Hinata activated her byakugan and scanned over to Naruto and saw what Haru said, "I see him. He's standing over Naruto he's wearing a mask that I can't see passed. He's wearing the Akatsuki colors." she got into a battle position prompting everyone to do the same and her eyes suddenly widened in horror, "Naruto-kun! Naruto-kun vanished!" The were all getting ready and they saw the man appear before them adorned in the Akatsuki cloak, spiky black hair, and an orange swirl mask coming from the right eye.

"It seems like I have to approach things differently from now on."

His voice was deep and the chakra coming off of him was sinister, he was looking at each individual, "An Uchiha, the Jinchuriki, the Hyuuga, and the last Monk. Quite the gathering here."

"I remember you from three years ago! Madara!" Sasuke shouted. "Wrong Uchiha I've fashioned a new name. Only a select few can call me by that name and you're not one of them." He then pointed to the four one by one saying, "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a Biju by the toe. If he hollers, let him go, Eeny, meeny, miny…. moe." he suddenly sunk into the ground and Hinata quickly dashed forward to catch him, but he moved to for her to catch up with and he became completely submerged in the sand and before any of them could move the worst happened.

"What the-"

Sasuke, Hinata, and Haru over and saw that the man was behind Shi with his whole arm going through his back and out his chest. All three were horrified at his speed and Sasuke retaliated first summoning Chidori in his hand he tried to strike him, but the assailant turned making Shi face Sasuke and mistakenly Sasuke impaled Shi through his stomach.

Tobi responded, "Looks like you're on your way to betraying the village too Sasuke-kun. Attacking your comrade like that." Haru jumped over him and tried to kick him in the head, but instead went right through him. Tobi ripped his hand out kicked the back of Shi with enough force to make him collide with Sasuke and hit the sand.

Hinata rushed and tried to strike him shouting at him, "Give Naruto-kun back!" When her first strike went through his body Tobi reached out and grabbed Hinata by her hair to spin her around and punch her in the stomach knocking her back. Haru saw Hinata get punched and shouted furiously, "Don't you touch HInata!" Haru started attacking with a wide variety of strikes that all went through him. Unamused he said, "I would've thought that the daughter of the Yondaime would be more of a threat." Haru now completely pissed tired to punch him and instead went through his whole body. Once she passed through him entirely he grabbed her by the hair just like Hinata and spun her around to kick her in the side.

Hinata and Haru slowly started to stand and Tobi was staring the two down, "I need to make an example here today otherwise the nations will think that my organization is a collection of weaklings. But first." Tobi looked at Hinata and commented, "You do resemble that picture he has and Haru-chan did call you Hinata… So you are the one who's corrupting his mind." Tobi moved to fast for either of the girls to follow and he appeared in front of Hinata's face saying to her, "I'll be taking you with me as well. You'll be my leverage over Naruto-kun." Hinata felt her body being compressed and all she saw herself getting closer and closer to Tobi until everything became dark.

Haru watched Hinata get sucked into this stranger's eye and vanish making the anger in Haru rise, "You son of a bitch!" Haru held her hand out and a Rasengan formed in her hand, but it started to change color and the shape of it began to change and morph and it took a new form.

Sasuke was watching the whole time from a distance trying to make sense of how they passed through him so easily, but when he attacks they connect how was he able to switch back and forth from being intangible to solid in an instant. Sasuke moved Shi's lifeless body off of him and gritted his teeth, 'I can't let him get away with this!' Sasuke reached into his pouch and took out a kunai. Lightly tossing it in the air he did three hand signs and grabbed the falling kunai and electricity formed around his hand and kunai.

Tobi looked ahead seeing Haru form a new Rasengan and looked over his shoulder seeing Sasuke with a new jutsu as well, 'Interesting… Very interesting.' he thought to himself.

Haru charged at him shouting, "Big Bang Rasengan!" The new jutsu started to turn yellow as opposed to blue and blue chakra was spinning on the outside of it.

Sasuke kept his sharingan locked on Tobi rushing to his back shouting, "Raikiri!" they moved so quick that it was almost a blur. Though just as they connected Haru aimed for his head, but went through him and Sasuke aimed for the base of his spine going through him as well. Haru went over Sasuke and Tobi decided to put them both down right after both of them passed through him completely he grabbed Haru's ankle while she was in the air, "You're coming with me as well." he felt something stab into his leg and his whole body spasmed. Haru quickly spun in his grip and kicked him in the head knocking him away from her.

Tobi looked down at his leg seeing a kunai sticking out it, 'He threw the kunai that was imbued with lightning chakra!' Tobi fought through the jolts in his body and grabbed the kunai ripping it out. Sasuke charged at Tobi doing a few handsigns thinking, "Fire Style: Great Fireball!" he spat out a large fire ball that went flying toward Tobi. Haru could see from the angle she was at that he phased through the sand avoiding the attack. When the fireball hit hit exploded kicking up a lot of dust. Tobi came from out of the ground appearing before the two, "Your tandem attacks work well and actually I'm impressed. If I didn't have the ability to make my body intangible I would've actually died by now." Tobi gave a look at both of them, "Maybe I'll let you stay alive just a bit longer and like I said I need to make an example here today. I've killed one already, how about I kill four more to prove a point." he looked to his left, "Starting with her." Tobi disappeared and the two ran at him to stop him from disappearing, but it was to late.

Sasuke looked at Haru asking, "Where did he go?" Haru's eyes widened and she looked in the direction of where Gaara and Sakura where, "Oh no!"

* Sakura & Gaara *

Tobi was standing in front of Sakura holding her fist and a kunai was jammed in her chest, "Predictable." Tobi said he pulled the kunai out of her chest and Sakura fell forward onto her knees holding onto her chest trying to heal herself. Tobi walked over to the unconscious Gaara telling Sakura, "You won't be able to heal from that one. I took that kunai from one of Sasori's puppets, meaning that it's doused in poison added to the fact that I stabbed it close to your heart. I'd say that you don't have long to live."

Sakura started to sweat a lot and her breathing became unstable, she glanced at Tobi seeing him standing above Gaara. Sakura did a few handsigns and thought to herself taking a big breath, 'Fire Style: Heated Stream!' when she spat out fire it came in the form of a line of fire that passed right through Tobi. He looked back at Sakura, "It's pointless to fight it."

"Sorry, but I don't give up that easily! I might be just as stubborn as her!" Sakura shouted, four things suddenly jumped out of the sand. Tobi saw them as four other clones of Sakura, they kept a distance and he replied, "What will you do now that you have me caught?" he suddenly felt something grab his ankles and he looked down, "Another one!?"

The clones then charged him and unlike before he held the kunai that he used to stab her to fight. The first clone that ran to him trying punch him was stabbed in the chest and dispersed, the second he threw it with such force that it knocked it off it's feet dispelling it. The third and fourth one charged and each threw a punch at him, timing it Tobi caught their wrists before contact and twisted both of the clones' wrists snapping the bones following up by punching both clones in the face dispelling the two. He looked down at the clone hidden in the sand and punched the ground with tremendous force that disrupted the clone and destroy it. Sakura saw Tobi starting to walk over toward her saying, "Pretty clever, I'd expected a tactic like that from your teammate and from Naruto in the usage of Shadow Clones. I must say that I underestimated you." in a split second he grabbed Sakura by her throat and held her dangling in the air, "Something I won't do again." Tobi pulled his fist back to punch her, but sand shot up and wrapped around his arm.

He looked back and saw Gaara was barely awake, his hand reaching out stopping Tobi from striking, "You're with Akatsuki right? Then your fight is with me." he said. Tobi dropped Sakura and looked at Gaara as he forced himself to stand up, "You can barely stand yet you think that you can win against me?"

"I'm not an idiot. I can't beat you one on one." Gaara let the sand fall off of Tobi's arm and he reached into his ninja pouch and unraveled a scroll shouting, "Which is why I'll do this!" doing his handsigns he touched the scroll unsealing a large amount of gold dust, making hand movements he mixed the sand around him with it and brought his hands together shouting, "I don't plan on holding back anymore!"

Tobi saw the gold sand surround Gaara and a massive amount of chakra explode out and imbued in the gold sand.

* Haru & Sasuke *

The two were running quickly knowing that Tobi was after Jinchuriki and since Gaara was injured he was the perfect target. Haru was running as quickly as she could her Sage Chakra drained and now using the small amount of Kyuubi chakra she can control and Sasuke was desperately trying to keep up his sharingan blazing. As they neared the area they stopped dead in their tracks when they felt a massive amount of chakra.

"What is that!?" Sasuke asked. Haru recognized the chakra as belonging to a tailed beast, 'Gaara-kun is awake and he's fighting!' she shouted at Sasuke, "Come on we have to save Sakura-chan and Gaara-kun!" agreeing he followed her and in the distance they could see a large figure rising out of the sand.

*Gaara *

Tobi was looking up seeing the Ichibi Shukaku staring down at him it's body a mass of sand and gold markings covering the body and tail. It has a jagged, concave mouth and the sclerae of its eyes are black, with yellow irides and pupils that each takes the shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it. It was much bigger than Tobi was who didn't seem to be phased at all by the new appearance.

"Gaara-kun!"

Tobi looked behind him seeing Haru appear and then looked to his left and saw Sasuke checking Sakura.

His attention was brought to the gigantic biju who was letting out a bloodthirsty roar and then it tried to hit him. Tobi didn't panic and instead phased right through the giant beast's arm completely unharmed, 'You cannot control it in your weakened state can you? The beast has completely taken control.' Tobi thought to himself and it did seem like the beast was on a rampage destroying everything in it's wake.

Sasuke picked up Sakura and tried to get far away from the rampaging beast while Haru used the remaining biju chakra to propel herself at Shukaku's nose shouting, "Gaara-kun you have to calm down!" Shukaku kept roaring and flailing his tail and his arms around smashing the sand around him.

Tobi distanced himself and watched from a distance as Haru looked to try and calm the beast, "Hey!" he looked back and saw Kisame appear behind him, "What are you doing here?" Kisame looked a bit beat up and worn out.

"I came to get you all out of here. I already have Naruto-kun, retreat for now I'lll capture the Jinchuriki." Tobi said authoritatively. Kisame said, "No can do." he pointed behind him and Tobi looked back and saw Kakashi and Arashi had followed them along with Pakura, Maki, and Ibiki.

The two Akatsuki faced the elite ninjas and Arashi calmly stated, "Madara."

"Arashi-kun and as well as the best of the best of Iwa and Konoha." Tobi stated, "You have a choice today, waste all your time and energy on stopping the two of us." he then pointed behind himself to the large biju still on a rampage, "Or use all that to calm him down. Your choice."

Ibiki said to everyone, "We can capture him another day, but with that biju on a rampage who knows how long before it decides to head to a populated area." Everyone understood and started running around the two Akatsuki except for Arashi who remained where he was. Tobi moved over and held his hand out to the beast, "Your move."

Arashi walked passed him, but said calmly, "You stole two people from my village. I doubt that I'll get Naruto back, but I'll be taking Hinata-chan back."

Tobi glanced at him through his mask asking, "Oh you tagged her as well?"

"Always and if she's hurt I swear that I'll-" Arashi asked. Tobi nodded, "Of course she is unharmed. Right now she's tending to Naruto's wound, they are talking as we speak I merely observing your brother's feelings right now." Falling from Tobi's left sleeve looked to be small flap of skin with a seal formula on it, "Better luck next time." Arashi gritted his teeth and ran off to fight.

"Go Kisame, I'll wait here a little while longer." Tobi said watching as Shukaku was on a rampage.

* Meanwhile *

Sasuke helped get Sakura a safe distance away and eventually found Chiyo who was surrounded by dead or injured ninjas. Sasuke set her down asking her, "Where did they all come from?"

"Arashi brought them all. What happened to her?" she asked. Sasuke said, "She told me that she was poisoned."

Chiyo observed her saying, "She was, this is Sasori's poison."

Sasuke looked around and saw something intriguing, "What's he doing here?" Chiyo looked back and saw Sasori was there except he had been bisected, his arms removed, and was held down by cloths. Chiyo told him, "Your sensei and the others saw to his capture. Thankfully he had the antidote on him."

"I never would've thought that I'd bee in this predicament Chiyo-baa-san." Sasori said smiling, "My puppets destroyed, our reinforcements abandoned us, and my partner is most likely run away as well." Sasuke kept his distance saying, "No honor amongst criminals huh?"

Sasori chuckled, "No honor either amongst traitors either right?" Sasuke gritted his teeth and wanted to strike, "Sasuke-kun…" a familiar voice stopped him and he saw Sakura was again gaining consciousness, "Sasuke-kun…" he moved over to her and kneeled down next to her, "Don't speak just rest."

She shook her head and reached up grabbing his collar and pulling him down and whispered into his ear. Sasuke's eyes widened and he quickly got up, "Chiyo-san take care of her."

"Where are you going Sasuke?" she asked.

Sasuke closed his eyes, "To help my friends. I've obtained a new power one that could redeem my clan for it's hatred." he slowly began to open his eyes, "A power obtained not through hate, control, or darkness." when his eyes opened revealing a Mangenkyo Sharingan, "One gained through hope, sacrifice, and light." his eyes contained three red intersecting ellipses and a black background.

* * *

(A/N)

If things seem like it's happening to fast or it wasn't as exciting as the other chapters I do apologize I did write this particular chapter in my depression episode. I promise the next few chapters will get exciting.

I forgot who it was that suggested the last part about Sasuke's Mangenkyo and that he instead acquires it through basically the good showing that the Uchiha Clan isn't all about hatred. I give that credit to whoever it was I'm sorry I forgot who it was just as I've said a lot of things have happened.

Thank you all for you immense patience!

-Stay Gold


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